Relinquish
by Lady Crack
Summary: Who needs a chick-flic when you have a Chick-Fic?  Where friends and rivals are seperated by a thin line.  There will be some lovin', but friendship remains at the heart of it all.  Multiple pairings...eventually.  O.o
1. Chapter 1

Summary: First official Chick-Fic! Where friendships and rivalries are seperated by a thin, thin line. There will be some lovin' and heartbreak, but frienship at the root of it all. Yes, friendship in the main theme for this story. There will be multiple pairings eventually, you know how slow-paced I can be! XD

Beta'd By: **cheh**, the magnificent.

~*R E L I N Q U I S H*~

CHP 1

**Friendship** is the cooperative and supportive relationship between people. In this sense, the term connotes a relationship which involves mutual knowledge, esteem, affection, and respect along with a degree of rendering service to friends in times of need or crisis. Friends will welcome each other's company and exhibit loyalty towards each other, often to the point of altruism. Their tastes will usually be similar and may converge, and they will share enjoyable activities. They will also engage in mutually helping behavior, such as the exchange of advice and the sharing of hardship. A friend is someone who may often demonstrate reciprocating and reflective behaviors. Yet for some, the practical execution of friendship is little more than the trust that someone will not harm them.

~*R*~

PROLOGUE:

This was mission impossible. Nerves wracked her body, there was no possible way that she was going to be able to do this! Did they not remember who she was? Hinata Hyuuga did not stand up in front of the entire school and sing! Girls like her band-mates did that sort of thing.

She was seeing double and was just about to faint before a hand rested on her shoulder, claiming her attention. Hinata looked up into those familiar dark eyes that seemed to always quiet her thoughts. A small smile tugged at her lips just as a tiny blush stole over her cheeks.

He leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Close your eyes."

Immediately she did as commanded and closed her pearly lilac orbs.

With a tiny smirk he walked behind her and moved her long silken tendrils of hair to the side, wrapping a small piece of cloth around her eyes tying it gently. Stepping back, he genuinely smiled and moved to stand in front of her, taking in the new look. "Open your eyes Hinata."

Her eyes fluttered open with eyelashes catching on the haze of white in front of her. She could still see but…her vision was mostly obscured. "I-Itachi?" she barely made out his profile in front of her.

He stepped in closer to her, to the point where she could feel his breath on her face, "Lace. It will help."

The grin that crept onto her lips was quick and easy. He didn't need to explain further, and already she felt better. He was so brilliant it was astonishing. And thoughtful, he was so considerate. She was in trouble and she knew it. She was headed straight for falling in love with him.

Maybe she already had.

The lace that was now so gently covering her eyes, she could see, yet she couldn't. It was an odd sense of protection, as though she was being veiled. She could do this, she found the inner confidence within herself. The courage rose inside of her, she could go out there and sing her heart out. Everything was truly going to be okay. Thanks to Itachi.

He was at her ear again, whispering hotly, "You are incredibly beautiful." Before she could fathom the unimaginable, she felt the slightest pressure on her lips. By the time he pulled away from her, she was nearly giggling with delight.

And suddenly…nothing seemed impossible anymore.

Chapter 1

**Junior Year - Hinata Hyuuga:** Practiced fingers swiftly flew over the well tuned keys of the old wooden piano. Her nails were rugged and short, evident of the constant chewing due to her nervous nature. Soon following the soft melody her conditioned hands played on the piano, she lilted her voice. The music was of sorrow and loneliness. Perhaps even regret. It seemed as though no matter how hard she tried, she always set herself up for failure. Trying so desperately and wanting to believe that it could change, that she would succeed and be worthy. The smooth tones bellowed outwards, bathing the empty classroom walls with her words.

"Don't tear me down…for all I need. Make my heart a better place. Give me something I can believe."

With her eyes closed, her hands stilled in their position on the ivory keys of the piano. Allowing the echo of her voice to wash over her, taking in the soft tones she had just created. A small smile slowly adorned her pink lips, just before the reality settled once again in her mind. The feeling of stark isolation she was coming to be so familiar with filtered through, took over every emotion and rampant memory. Oh how she missed him.

She missed his laughter and bright eyes, his easy-going demeanor and will-power to never give up. Her eyes had been on him from the very start, over a decade ago now. He was the lonely boy who everyone picked on and made fun of. It took her years to even speak a single word and not pass out while in his presence; even longer before she could work up the courage to confess her feeling for him. And it was a hollowing pain when he didn't respond to her for almost a year afterwards, but eventually he had. It was just last year he finally made all her dreams come true by taking her to the winter dance. Little did she know, at the time anyway, that he had only asked her out of pity. Now that she no longer had him in her arms, she realized how much she had shaped her life around the simple ideal of just being with him.

Never would she have imagined the care-free boy would end up hurting her so deeply, without even thinking about it. Was she so worthless? That pathetic? The relationship was easy from the very beginning, as though she just fell into place right beside him. He had always been a boy that needed attention, and she was just the girl to give him what he craved. Her every thought and whim had been to cater to him and his needs. Even though it was frustrating at times when he could just push her on the back burner for everyone else. She never came first when it came to Naruto. At the time, Hinata had felt that he simply wasn't used to someone doting on him, didn't believe that he could possibly know or understand how to return affection. It all became clear to her later on. Now, here she was, going through each day alone, no one noticing the sorrow that she reigns in. They all fall for the façade she places on her face each day.

No, she wasn't happy. Yes, she was depressed. He hurt her severely; with ease he so carelessly and completely destroyed her. All she ever wanted was for the boy, her longtime crush, to finally acknowledge her. And when he did, it turned out to be worse than never talking to him at all.

No matter how much it hurt in the end, she wished that he just would have been honest with her from the get go. They had spent nearly a year together, she supposed now that it was all fake smiles and fake happiness on his part. She should have known that he would never truly belong to her. All the lies. Every kiss, each touch, every single glance in her direction was a lie, and she fell for it every time. She would rather live each day knowing from the start he never cared for her, instead of holding all of these wasted memories.

Her attention was pulled from her most inner thoughts as the heavy door of the classroom opened suddenly, her gaze settling on surprised bright emerald eyes.

The two girls stared at each other for a moment, the instant pain filling both hearts and minds. Hinata felt the anguish refuel her soul as her former best friend's eyes took her in. Since the incident a couple months ago, they avoided each other like the plague. Seeing Sakura just standing there, her perfect pale pink locks moving to cover her eyes, Hinata realized that with seeing this girl the pain was worse, stronger than the feelings of her former love…her Naruto. How could she, her best friend of five years, Sakura, do this to her? How could she so callously throw away their friendship, her trust?

She listened with a sad heart as Sakura cleared her throat in her unease, "I…I forgot a book…"

Hinata closed her eyes and turned her head away, so it came down to this? The awkwardness would forever be between them, or so it seemed. Why did Sakura's betrayal hurt more than Naruto's part in all of this? Why was it more painful that she and Sakura had lost their friendship? Why was it more difficult to lay her eyes on Sakura than it was Naruto? Because of the trust she lost in her, the one friend she had put her utmost faith into?

But friends were not supposed to sleep with your boyfriend.

**Junior Year - Sakura Haruno:**Captivating almond-shaped green eyes took in the sight of her once so-called friend. Her heart felt as though it was shattering all over again. Sakura understood very well that it was her own fault, she knew that she was such a selfish girl. She barely found her voice to explain why she was even there, it seemed as though she had trespassed on a private moment. "I…I forgot a book…", when she did finally speak her reason, her stomach clenched as she watched Hinata's eyes shut as she turned her face away from her.

The only thought running through her brilliant mind was that it wasn't worth it. The happiness she felt being with Naruto everyday wasn't worth the pain they put her through. But she was so very selfish, and she wouldn't give him up. Not for anything and certainly for anyone! Was it wrong of her to expect Hinata to understand? They were in love!

Sakura sighed softly and left Hinata quietly to herself. No wonder she would never be forgiven if she kept thinking that Hinata should just accept the fact that they were together. If it was her, would she accept it? Could she herself just smile and go on like nothing happened? Yeah right, she would probably ruthlessly destroy everything and anything to do with either one of them. But that was what was so special about Hinata, the shy girl would never posses such sadistic thoughts of revenge, she was just too kind. They used to be the best of friends, each of them making up for the other's weakness. Where Hinata was timid and gentle, Sakura was loud and forward. Sakura herself had ruined everything on her own, casting their friendship aside. And she wasn't even woman enough to face the truth of it all. That she was a cold callous monster of a person.

Tears slowly started to work their way from her jade eyes, where had she gone so wrong?

Of course, it started with Sasuke, it was always about him. Sasuke Uchiha, the most handsome boy in their year. She was so desperately in love with him for so long, but he had always ignored her. So when the day came and he coldly told her to get lost one to many times, she found the comfort in one of her other friends, Naruto Uzumaki. They had always known each other, hell she was the connection that brought Hinata and him together. She knew that he always had a crush on her, over the years he had asked her out on countless dates. But with her infatuation with Sasuke she always ignored him, thought he was just annoying. It really opened up her eyes though, because the night she spent with him showed her that she could really learn to love him. Hinata never once crossed her mind as they gave their innocence to each other.

But it wasn't worth it, was it?

A shadow fell over her, and she found herself looking up into the familiar pale lavender eyes of Neji Hyuuga. His eyes, they only caused for more tears to fall down her cheeks. His eyes reminded her so much of what she gave up with Hinata, just to feel pleasures of the flesh with Naruto. She was so sorry! She wanted to scream it! She needed Hinata back in her life, it just wasn't right without her! She loved Naruto though, she was so in love with him…wasn't she?

Her eyes closed as more tears fell down her face, she was nearly sobbing now, with the Hyuuga male right in front of her, witnessing her every weakness. She just knew that if she looked back up at him, that she would see him mocking her through his knowing gaze. Neji must despise her for hurting his precious little cousin like that. Really though, she couldn't blame him for that, he was always looking out for Hinata. He was very against the idea of Hinata dating Naruto in the first place, who knew that she would be the one to break them up.

She heard his light footsteps take him away from her, and her tears only came faster, hotter than before. She was to the point where she was nearly gulping for air. "Dammit," she punched her palm, "Breathe Sakura, just breathe." She had to calm down, it simply wouldn't do for her to have red eyes during cheerleading practice.

She wiped her tears away and ducked into a bathroom to freshen up, good thing no one else saw her besides Neji. Who knew what the rumor mongrols would have going by now. Maybe Naruto heartlessly broke up with her, or she was pregnant, or…whatever. Taking another deep breath, she tried to not let the reminder of what a horrible friend and person she was turning out to be ruin her makeup.

Shaking her head sadly, she looked in the mirror at her own reflection. Was she that vain? If she could really turn her feelings on and off like that, then did she truly love Naruto?

She was scared of that answer.

**Junior Year – Ino Yamanaka:** It was very obvious to the captain of the cheerleading squad that her co-captain had been crying. No matter the excuse Sakura muttered to her and the others about her eyeliner bothering her eyes. Whatever, she didn't need to get involved in her problems, she had her own to face. She was tired of Sakura's every day drama. One day she's happy, the next she's sad. Really, was the girl bi-polar or something? It was really unfortunate though, because she used to be great friends with Sakura. Until Sasuke Uchiha caught both of their attention so many years ago, and in the end it was Sakura who revoked their friendship. All over a boy who probably could care less about either one of them.

Whatever, she learned to move on. Ino wondered though, Sakura had destroyed her friend Hinata completely by sleeping with her boyfriend. But if Sasuke were to all of a sudden ask her out, would Sakura just dump Naruto and leave him by the way side? She felt that yes, Sakura would do just that. Poor Hinata, if anyone, she was the victim in all of this. It wasn't fair to the quiet girl. She tried talking to her, but they were really only acquaintances, and the girl was so shy she couldn't get past a stuttered hello in the hallway.

Moving through the moves of yet another routine, the sounds of the boys practicing for their football game sounded loudly in the background. Her eyes caught sight of number 55 and she tried not to tremble. After all, a girl shouldn't be frowning when she sees her boyfriend of two years. No, she didn't have time to worry about Sakura and pretend to care about her self-inflicted problems. Not when she herself was distressed.

It was true, she let go of her childhood attraction for Sasuke, and opened up her eyes to the new star quarterback of her school's team, the Konoha Demons. It was only natural for the captain of the cheerleading team to date the quarterback of the school. And Chouji was a great a guy, _was_ being an important operative word. In the beginning everything was perfect, he was a true gentleman. He was the most well-built guy in their freshman year, handsome and kind. Not to mention he only smiled whenever she constantly prattled on and on. Her heart truly loved him and that was why it hurt so much to know all the things he was into now.

She had always been familiar with being popular, it never bothered or got to her. She knew she was gorgeous. Her hair was a long lustrous natural blonde color, and her eyes were a piercing pale blue, with a body that was once described as 'banging'. However, Chouji Akimichi was new to being in the 'in' crowd, and for the first year of their relationship everything was great. But the more popular he became, the more and more he started to change. He started taking drugs, and they started having sex on a regular occasion. Being intimate now was almost like a bad habit, the feeling behind the action just wasn't there anymore. It was all fun and adventurous in the beginning, but then the drugs started to come harder and harder. And he cheated on her, more than once. She even knew who the girls were, but he explained that it was just because he was so messed up he thought they were her. He started gaining weight and not taking care of himself. Everything just started falling apart right in front of her.

Looking at him now, while Sakura directed the girls on a new move to try out, she could clearly see him breathing heavy, like he couldn't keep up with the pace of his teammates. It's been months now since he started sleeping around, and it just gets worse and worse. But she loved him, she truly did. It wasn't that fake love like Sakura shared with Naruto. It was a real genuine love, so that's why she put up with it. That's why she accepted his every excuse. He was really overweight now, but it didn't bother her, she loved him so she stayed with him. Just as simple as that.

Only it seemed no matter how hard she tried to help him, he just got worse. His reassurances of love for her were getting to be redundant and she knew it was just another routine for them to play out. No, she just needed to be strong and endure. She would be the one to help him out of this dark mess he's gotten into. He was worth it.

Even if she had to wear wraps around her forearms to hide the bruises he left on her last weekend.

**Senior Year - Tenten Tanaka:** Cautiously she stepped out, grateful that the girl who just left didn't realize she was holed up in one of the stalls in this now familiar bathroom. She walked slowly to the paltry sink, avoiding catching a glimpse of herself in the worn-out mirror and turned on the faucet to rinse the blood away. This was becoming a very unhealthy habit, but she deserved it for being so…so…

She couldn't finish her thoughts, just like she couldn't stop cutting into herself with her small knife.

Looking back, she had never been this way, never. Never like this. Tenten had always been a straight-forward no-nonsense kind of girl. Maybe it was still the shock of it all; maybe that was why she couldn't bring herself to stop the sick cutting of her flesh. She relished in the sting as the tip of a blade perfectly sliced open her skin, she felt as though the sensation reminded her that she could still feel something. Maybe, she knew it was wrong. It was obvious that it was unhealthy, but it felt so good. She should have never allowed herself to get this worked up all over a boy.

But he wasn't just some boy. He was _her_ boy. They had been perfect friends for the longest of years. So when they hit their freshman year together, she deemed it as absolutely necessary to make him take her out on a date. It was the thing to do back then, everyone around her was already dating and she didn't like to ever be left behind. So the efficient choice was to turn the long-time friendship with Lee into something more. She should have known better. Here she was, in her senior year, lonely and a sick freak who no one ever even noticed anymore. Not like that was a bad thing though. If no one noticed her then they couldn't make fun of her.

Why! Why did he just go along with it! No, she didn't deserve to cry, and besides he wasn't worth it. Stubbornly she held back the sudden tears that pricked her eyes. It wasn't her fault, was it? She'll never forget that moment, the moment when it all became so painstakingly clear, when she caught her boyfriend of three years kissing and feeling up another boy. It's one thing to cheat, but to cheat on her with someone of the same sex? It was only natural for her to feel disgusted with herself, and the comments that came the next couple months didn't help at all.

"_You're so ugly you turned Lee gay!"_

"_No wonder he's gay, I would be too if I went out with you!"_

"_Keep your hands away from my man, I like him nice and straight."_

It went on and on. The torrent of insults was horrible, she really felt that she was the reason that he turned to his basketball teammate Gaara. And Lee, to make things even worse he tried to defend her. He still tried to be the best friend she remembered from childhood, as if he didn't realize that he just made things so much harder. The bad part is that he probably didn't realize how his natural defense for her made everything worse.

She was angry, but mainly with herself. For despising him so much for all of the lies he told her. She was angry because she lost him as a friend, because she was the one to let go of the friendship that was built over years. It wouldn't have mattered if he would have been honest with her and tell her that he was attracted to men, she could have cared less. Regardless, she would have supported him and helped to fight his battles that were bound to happen. But he let her get her heart involved with him, to become so attached to the idea that they were a solid couple. Was she truly that horrible of a girlfriend that she made him turn to another man? Never mind the pretty obvious signs he displayed from early on: the gentlemanly nature, the loyal friendship, and the matching clothes (though it was always the same constant green and the casual tendency of spandex). Only one person really didn't turn their back on her, their mutual friend Neji, but he was so busy with his academics and training he couldn't afford the time to keep checking up on her. And really it wasn't the Hyuuga's responsibility, they were friends, but this whole mess was between herself and Lee.

Making her way out of the bathroom, she pulled her hoodie up to cover her face, anything to become invisible to the outside. Anything. She placed headphones securely around her ears and blasted the music that was on her iPod. Maybe no one will bother her on her way to the locker. She could only hope.

But the fates were not of the same mind, they wanted to mess with her. So she became panicked as she spotted him.

**Senior Year - Temari Sabaku:** She was in one hell of a mood, and she was absolutely not up to her baby brother's antics with his insane boy-toy. She had one too many classes with that Nara jerk and it had her on edge. Ever since she called it off with him, it seemed that he all of a sudden wanted to pay attention to her, like he suddenly started to care. What an ass.

All she wanted was to go home and relax before diving into her crazy assignments from Ms. Anko Mitarashi. Before she could do that though, she had to meet up with her questionable brothers. She was the eldest child of a dead mother and a father who never bothered to care. Her twin brother was the popular party boy and football star on the varsity team, Kankuro. And the younger brother was her recently turned homosexual, anger-issue and problematic, Gaara. And when she met up with her brothers, that meant she had to meet up with Gaara's love, Lee Rock, as well. She didn't care that her little brother was homosexual, it didn't bother her one bit, it was his business after all.

But Lee? Really?

They were the most ill looking couple and so unevenly matched it was nearly impossible to even glance at the two. Gaara and his beautiful aquamarine shade of eyes and bright red hair complete with his badass attitude was a perfect contrast with his pale skin and small frame. As for Lee, everything about the boy was obnoxious! Shiny straight black hair cut into a bowl-shape style, scary ass eye-brows, and a horrid habit of wearing green spandex. Maybe Gaara liked seeing his muscles flex as he moved? Who knew.

A note fell out from in between two books from her advanced classes. She opened it and frowned deeply as she took in who it came from, and only read it to try and avoid the sudden kissing noises coming from her little brother and his freak.

_Give me another chance_

What, two years of chances wasn't enough? She was not about to let that lazy ass back into her life, she really could have loved that smart ass with all of her heart, could have given him everything she was worth. But if he couldn't appreciate her and at least try, then why sacrifice her feelings for him? If Shikamaru Nara is just now figuring out that she was done with him for good, then it really is a lost cause. Maybe it was brutal of her to think like that, but she'd be damned if she would put anything else into a relationship that he deemed as 'such a drag'. She'd rather be alone than be with someone who just now, after two years of being together, was showing that he cared for her. How dare he just _now_ start to take an active interest in pursuing her?

Her twin brother, who was held back thanks to his constant skipping while a sophomore, finally made his appearance. He was talking with a group of his friends, all football players. "Oh man Gaara, do you have to do that in front of my locker?" Kankuro complained.

"We are enjoying the passions of our youth! Yosh!" exclaimed Lee.

"Yeah, down boy. Let's go," Temari muttered with clenched teeth.

Gaara coughed a little and gave into Lee who was reaching for his hand, "Can we take him home?"

What, was he some pet now? Temari looked at her little brother, the one who barely spoke to her, the antisocial one, all the while trying not to laugh at the sudden image of Lee wagging his tail like a playful puppy. She looked at Gaara, the one who had someone to love in his life and she didn't. Kankuro had too many loves in his life, considering the huge catfight at lunch two weeks ago when they all found out about each other. That was a fun day. She considered Gaara's request, it was becoming a regular habit to drive the green-clad boy home at least once a week. So she merely nodded her consent and waited for Kankuro's approval.

Then he reminded them that he had football practice, but he could take him home afterwards. Temari was more than aggravated. She forgot about Kankuro's stupid foolsball practice today. Damnit, that meant she had to wait for him and listen to her little brother get all kissy-face with Lee. First though, they decided to put their belongings in Kankuro's brand new shiny black truck. Apparently he had to get it because it was a chick-magnet. Whatever. Where he got the money, she had no idea. Maybe he somehow tapped into the HUGE trustfund set up by their sadistic diplomat, or known as daddy-undearest. Or maybe her twin was simply a drug dealer now.

Oh…this should be interesting. Isn't that…Lee's ex girlfriend?

~*R*~

A/N: $10 cyber-bucks for the first person that can name the band/song that Hina was signing. Why? Because they are awesome and I adore them.

Warning: pace of updates is going to be s l o w. I apologize in advance; I just haven't had a lot of time to actually write lately. Here's to hoping things change soon.

Please leave me feedback, this story idea has been bouncing around for a while now and I'd absolutely love to know what everyone thinks. Criticism is greatly embraced by this Lady; so feel free to give honest opinions. Okay, so I wasn't sure how to categorize this ficlet so I just put it under _Hinata_ for now - that may change later on.

~Lady Crack out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**: I question if we really have to have a disclaimer for our fics...isn't that in our agreement when we sign up? Not sure so...I don't own. Anyhoo...onwards! Yosh!

CHP2

"Tenten!" yelled Lee, "How have you been my beautiful friend?" he said rushing up to the girl who was trying to not look as panicked as she felt. Lee knew that it upset his beloved Gaara when he would try and talk to her, but he knew that he hurt her when she found out about them. Besides, Tenten was his friend.

"Um…" she couldn't speak, she despised it when he did this, and it was nearly every time they saw each other.

But Lee never noticed a thing, he just kept right on going, "I love your jacket, it matches your eyes so well!"

She nodded and looked at anything but him, "Um, I gotta get going, so…" she quickly moved around him and out towards the front door. She was in such a hurry that she didn't notice the book she had dropped or the person that had picked it up and started following after her in silent annoyance.

Finally, she was out of there, out of her hell. Just two more minutes and she'll be in the safe confines of her car and on her way home, to hopefully forget everything that ever happened.

"Hey look, it's the fag magnet!" laughed some girl.

Even though there was a small part of her that wanted to drop-kick the banshee, she merely lowered her head and kept her eyes on the ground in front of her. How could people be so cruel? Not only were they so mean to her, but how could they demean Lee and Gaara that way, and anyone else that was attracted to the same sex? It wasn't right and it wasn't fair to them. She could just see herself snapping back at the girl if she wasn't so broken up inside.

There was a snide comment made to the girl in the background, it sounded almost like someone told her to "shut it", but she didn't pay any attention. Her only goal was to make it to her car and get the hell away from this place.

When she finally made it to her vehicle and dragged her weary body inside, finally she let the tears fall. It wasn't often anymore that she cried. But running into _him_, being made fun of again, not to mention the blood now seeping through her make-shift bandage was just all too much it seemed. She just sat there and leaned her head on her steering wheel, feeling lost while willing the cursed tears away. It shamed her to know that she had dropped so low. Up until these recent events, Tenten was known for her tough exterior, and now, well; now she felt cruelly exposed to the world without a shell. Oh how she loathed the image that stared back at her every time she glanced in the mirror.

Sudden loud banging on the window of her car door startled her into looking up, seeing nothing but black. Black eyes, black hair, black clothes. Everything was black.

Her now red and bleary eyes stared stupidly up at the one and only Sasuke Uchiha. It took her nearly a minute to get past his scowl and roll down the window to see what one of the most popular boys in the school wanted…with her. But he didn't say a word, he simply stared at her with bored eyes. She felt panic rise in her all over again, it had been so long since she looked anyone else in the eyes. After a time of just looking at her, Sasuke stuffed her abandoned book through the window and walked off towards the practice field, hands buried deeply in the pockets of his shorts. She didn't even get a chance to thank him, of course it wasn't like she could have found her voice anyway.

She watched the back of him as he moved further and further away from her. Sniffling once she looked back at the book he handed to her, she hadn't even realized that she dropped it. Frowning just slightly she looked back in the Uchiha's direction. His black hair was spiked short in the back, and she knew from memory that he had long bangs in the front. It was definitely a unique style, one that suited him just fine; it was distinctly Sasuke. He was probably the most popular boy in their high school, even though everyone still talked about his older brother who graduated two years ago and was now in college. Tenten felt ashamed that _the_ Sasuke Uchiha witnessed her crying, she was so weak, but at least he didn't make fun of her – to her face anyway.

Feeling even more dejected, she started her car to make her way home. She wasn't even worth the time to someone a year under her. Ridiculous. All she had to do now was get through this last year, then she can have a fresh start in another country. She couldn't wait for the study abroad program in Iwa. But in the mean time, she knew that this was going to be a long year.

~*R*~

Temari watched as her angry yet concerned brother moved in to kiss the taller Lee on his chin. She actually felt some sympathy for the girl, Tenten was it? Which is a first in her case, she was admittedly very self-centered. But how _couldn't_ she feel for her? She shook her head, which caught the attention of Kankuro who inquired about her look, something they jokingly referred to as "twin-sense". She just shook her head no again and left it at that. She shouldn't have to point out the obvious. It wasn't like she was sure how she would handle having her ex turn to another man on her. With Shikamaru he was just too damn lazy to even glimpse at another girl, let alone a male, so that at least something she never had to worry about. If it ever did happen, then she would probably either withdraw into herself or kick the crap out of whomever she was with at the time.

More than likely it would be both.

"Dude, that girl is smoking hot, what are you doing with little red over here?" Kankuro teased Lee.

"Are you implying that he should dump our brother and go back to being straight?" Temari asked incredulously.

"Yeah right, if he did that then I'd have to kick his ass."

"Then shut up," she said testily.

"I would never leave my red lotus, my heart beats for his every breath, yosh!" Lee declared, making the red-head blush very, very slightly.

"She needs time," Gaara said quietly, darkly.

"What do you mean?" Lee asked, staring into his love's beautiful eyes.

"He means that you probably shouldn't shove your happiness down her throat," Temari responded.

Lee's eyebrows eerily crunched together, "What?" he asked in his confusion. He was utterly happy with Gaara, why wouldn't he want to show the world?

"How about I put it in simple terms for your brain to comprehend? Would you like it if Gaara suddenly started liking girls and you walked in on him making out with some random chick?" _Because that is pretty much what Bunnie-girl saw happening between Lee and Gaara._

Lee and Gaara both looked affronted, "I. I wouldn't like it."

"Back off Temari," Gaara threatened.

She sighed, "Maybe you should be saying that to your boyfriend."

"Woah, down girl. Don't mind her, she's probably PMSing or something like that," Kankuro butted in.

Temari silently fumed while Gaara looked almost…betrayed, "I thought you were okay with Lee and I," he said quietly and Lee immediately grabbed his hand in support.

She could have screamed! "You know I'm cool with you two, stop making this into something it isn't. All I'm saying is that you; Lee, should respect your ex girlfriend a little. It has to be hard on her to see you together. Do you not know what restraint is? You keep saying that Bunnie-chick's your BFF, or are you just all talk?"

"I can't believe it, Temari sticking up…for another girl?" Kankuro said sarcastically.

"Ugh! You are impossible! Go to your stupid practice!"

Kankuro's mouth dropped in mock hurt, "Yep, she's ragging."

Having had enough of her imbecile, moronic, hormone-infested twin and the "power of youth" duo, she made to storm off down the hall. Freaking idiots! And naturally she bumped into someone and almost fell on her butt, only thanking her superb balancing skills that she didn't. She then noticed that she had run into Kiba Inuzuka, probably on his way to football practice as well.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, moving to hold her elbow as though to steady her.

Tersely, she said, "Yeah, just fine," then moved her hand to brush him away. He was with a group of other boys, all on the football team. There was Kiba, Shino, Naruto, Chouji, and…and _him_. She glared at _him_, and said darkly, "No more chances. I'm done."

~*R*~

Her mind was so preoccupied that she didn't hear the door to the music room open again, of course it was opened rather quietly, but still she should have noticed that she was no longer alone again. Her thoughts were centered on Sakura and why the girl was so angry with her. It wasn't as though she did anything wrong, she never caused grief for her old friend when everything came out into the open. It hurt her, her relationship with Naruto was obviously over, and it truly angered her the way they both so callously embarrassed her. But Sakura should know that she would easily forgive her. Right? Could she forgive her?

"Are you ready, Hinata?"

Her eyes widened as she finally noticed her tall cousin was standing right in front of her. He looked annoyed if anything, as he gently moved his long dark bangs to the side. His narrow chin was firm, and his jaw clenched, obviously something was bothering him. "Is-is something wrong, Neji?"

The sigh that escaped him was to alleviate his sudden sour mood, as he soon sent her a familiar smirk with his reply, "Everything is fine, let's go, I don't want to be late for practice."

She nodded and gathered her belongings and soon they were walking side by side down the pale-blue halls of the 'Oto' wing of their school, or better known as the 'Sound Hall'.

It was routine by now that she would wait for her cousin while he was in football practice. It used to be that she would watch her cousin and Naruto, but well, that was no longer the case. She always sat up high in the bleachers in some corner so that she could be as invisible as possible, and with headphones in place she could drown out the world around her.

By the time they arrived to the field the team practice was already in full swing. Hinata didn't say a word as Neji started jogging towards his teammates to partake in the drills, and she most definitely didn't cast her eyes towards the cheerleaders huddled together at the opposite end of the field. Up the steps she went and into the corner she sat.

The breeze felt rather nice this afternoon, with her eyes closed and her long dark-blue tinted hair swaying around her face she found herself actually relaxing. Plus, one of her favorite songs turned up on her headphones and she couldn't help the small smile that found itself on her lips just before allowing the familiar words to pour softly from her own mouth.

The moment, however, was suddenly ruined as she felt a shift on the bench she was sitting on.

She was surprised that anyone would bother to sit anywhere near her when they had the option of sitting anywhere they so chose. With eyes now wide open and mouth slightly ajar, she saw that the boy considered a prodigy was sitting a mere five feet from her. Itachi Uchiha was the most sought after boy to have ever come from her high school, she'd even overheard some of the female teachers talking about how fine he was. And gifted, he was also apparently insanely brilliant given as he graduated early. She'd never spoken to him, rarely saw him, but knew that he often attended Sasuke's extracurricular activities. But why sit here atop the bleachers in a corner…next to her? She immediately turned her gaze down once she saw him glancing in her direction, she wondered if he'd overheard her singing to herself, _OMK_ how embarrassing. It was a good thing she noticed he was there right away, that would have been tremendously discomforting.

She could still feel his eyes on her, assessing and calculating. His gaze felt intense and intimidating in her immediate estimation.

He was quiet, the prodigious man seeking his business masters, and she didn't know him. She did though, have multiple conversations with his younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha. After all Sasuke is Naruto's best friend and ultimately ultimate rival, so it was natural for her to eventually become friendly with the younger Uchiha sibling during the brief courtship. Actually, Sasuke was one of the few people who became angry at Naruto for what he did, but they eventually made up and now he would only speak to her occasionally. He was one of the few people who were always courteous to her, surprising actually, considering he was well-known for being rude. But it was pleasant that he recognized Naruto and Sakura were in the wrong, and it kind of gave her courage to face the fact that she wasn't a bad girlfriend and didn't drive him away, that it was Naruto's fault for breaking them up.

She was determined to ignore the Uchiha genius and decided there would be no attempt to socialize or even accidentally look in his direction, for she could already feel the blush burning her cheeks, and silently cursed her shy nature. When she was with Naruto, she had made improvements because she was used to being paraded around, but she was never used to any attention from anyone. She didn't enjoy the attention, it was a hardship if anything.

A slight touch to her shoulder, though, caused her to audibly gasp and eyes to widen drastically. She hadn't even sensed him move, let alone to realize that he was standing over her now.

"Y-yes?" her voice was high-pitched and her heart was racing as she avoided looking him directly in the eyes.

He was silent for a few seconds before responding, "May I borrow a pencil."

His smooth and even voice flowed over her, just as her blush took over her entire face as her skin seemed to immediately ignite into flames. Nodding at his question in a statement, she started to fumble through her bag to search out a pencil for him to borrow. She squeezed her eyes shut as her hands found her bright purple retractable pencil. Her brow was creased as she handed it to him, noting his face was as indifferent and still as a statue. She _would_ only have a purple pencil to lend him, of course, anything to already add to her humiliation.

His dark, almost shadow-like gaze stared into her own for the merest of moments before he returned to his position a few feet away from her. Slowly, she released her breath and waited for her heartbeat to calm down. He must think she was an idiot! Was she so antisocial that a simple request from a stranger causes her to nearly pass out? Or maybe it was because she simply wasn't used to anyone speaking with her now, other than her cousin and occasionally her younger sister. The friends she earned and gained during her courtship with Naruto disappeared when the relationship had ended, and here she was too scared to speak with anyone.

Anxiously she looked out onto the field and caught sight of her cousin as he was running through yet another drill. She couldn't wait for practice to end.

~*R*~

The cool summer air was starting to sting her already fragile eyes, Sakura watched her boyfriend from the sidelines. They had already concluded their cheerleading practice, but most of the girls stayed behind to watch the guys. Tch, most of the girls were dating guys on the team, so of course they would stay behind and brag to each other over who was the better player. That was her former BFF's stomping grounds though, because Chouji was the star quarterback of their team. Even if she herself thought he had been getting slower and slower.

She smiled when she looked at Naruto who just got tackled down viciously by Sasuke. She smiled because he got up right away and laughed it off, he was always so happy and cheerful. Ah, finally…their practice was considered over by Coach Hatake. She put on her brilliant and beautiful smile as most of the guys started bounding towards the girls.

She laughed heartily as Naruto spun her around, bringing her into a sweaty kiss as he did so. These were the moments she cherished with him so much, he couldn't care less who saw them together. He loved her and he wanted everyone to know it, she couldn't recall a single time when he did that sort of thing with Hinata.

That sudden thought caused familiar pain to once again lance through her heart, striking it over and over again cold and ruthlessly. How could she be so heartless when it came to Hinata now, and why was she always, always comparing her relationship with Naruto versus Hinata's time with him? Maybe it was because she was simply his ex, and it came down to a jealous female territorial thing.

She glanced up in her direction, Hinata was always in the same spot during the football practice, and was greatly surprised to see both of the Uchiha brothers and her cousin Neji all surrounding her. She was sitting while the three boys were talking amongst themselves, but still, they were by her. Why? Why would the Uchiha's even be near them? It wasn't like Sasuke really got along with Neji in the first place, and she knew how private Itachi was. Maybe Neji and Itachi had been friends before the elder Uchiha graduated and she just never knew about it. Of course, that was hard to believe, because she knew everything that was Sasuke. Why was it suddenly bothering her anyway? Was she jealous because she was near the boy she used to crush on?

"Hey, Kiba's throwing another party Friday night, do you want to go?" Naruto asked her in all his bright cheesiness.

"Sure Naruto, that sounds like fun."

"AWESOME! It's right after our game against Kumo."

She smiled sweetly at him, "Don't worry, I know you'll win."

"Believe it, there's no way we can lose to them!"

"That's right, hey you ready babe?" Chouji cut in as he wrapped an arm around Ino's waist and started walking towards them.

"Hey Naruto…Sakura," Ino said, a little coldly towards the pink-haired girl.

"Ino-pig," Sakura replied crossing her arms and sticking her nose in the air.

"Psh, whatever. Watch that massive forehead of hers Naruto, wouldn't want her to knock you out before the game."

"Eh, heh heh," Naruto mumbled while scratching the back of his head, "I love her big forehead."

"NARUTO!"

Holding his head, Naruto pouted, "Ow Sakura, what was that for?"

"Just…never mind," she tried blocking out Ino and Chouji's laughter.

"Wow Sakura, you've got a mean right hook for a cheerleader," Chouji commented with, …was he staring at her legs?

"Um, let's go Naruto, I have a bunch of homework to catch up on."

"Yeah, see you later guys."

Ino sighed softly to herself, she loved him so much, but didn't he realize that he was hurting her? How could he basically flirt with Sakura right in front of her? Next thing she knew, he had her pressed up against the chain-link fence separating the field from the aluminum stands, kissing her neck, nipping at her. She laughed lightly and playfully pushed him away, only for him to grab her bruised arms and squeeze tightly. How could she forget, he didn't like being told no. She pushed him away for real this time, and moaned with the pain he was causing her.

"What the hell is your problem, Ino?" he glared at her, making everyone look at them in curiosity.

"You were hurting me Chouji," she said slowly and then looked around at the people who were now staring at them. "Come on baby, let's go okay?"

"Whatever, find your own ride," he said angrily and stalked off to the locker room.

"But Chouji!"

Nothing. He just kept on walking. Great, now she didn't have a way to get home and her parents were out of town on vacation. Huffing in anger she hurriedly went to the now empty girls' locker room and dressed in her regular clothes – a dark purple t-shirt that barely showed her midriff and a pair of perfectly fitted light blue jeans – looks like she'll be walking home, good thing she opted for sneakers today instead of her planned high heels.

How could he just leave her like that? It's the drugs, nothing else could explain it. All he does now is pop pills.

Honk. Honk. She looked up, still in the parking lot and spotted one of the popular boys rolling down his window to talk to her. She was fairly familiar with Kankuro Sabaku, he, after all, was always at all the parties. He was a funny guy, the life of the party as they say. Now that his tinted window was rolled down, she saw his sister Temari in the seat next to him, and she caught a glimpse of Gaara in the back.

"Hey, where's your boy? Doesn't he usually take you home?"

"Oh…well, he…he had something to do and so…" _yeah…that was believable_, _way to go girl_, she admonished herself mentally.

"Well, do you need a lift?" he asked with a growing grin.

Ino looked at him, with his friendly if not flirty light brown eyes. "No, that's okay. I don't mind walking, but thanks anyway."

She noticed that he didn't leave, he kept his big truck evenly paced with her speed of steps. "Are you sure? Come on, just get in."

She sighed, and admitted to herself that it would probably be a good hour and a half before she actually got home, and she was just asking for a back ache with the heavy books she had to contend with for homework. She nodded and went to the other side, where Temari rolled her eyes and scooted over to make room for her. She hadn't noticed before that Lee Rock in the back with Gaara, it was a fairly quiet ride with some alternative music playing comfortable throughout the vehicle.

"So, uh where do you live again?" Kankuro asked, over Temari's head.

"You know where the ice rink is? I live on Leaf Court, it's a block from there."

"Yeah, you must live pretty close to Lee then, he's on East Maple."

She nodded, then said "Yes," after she realized he couldn't see her.

Honestly, she felt pretty bad. Not only did he have to drop her off, but Lee too? She was pretty grateful that he offered her the ride. It only took them fifteen minutes and they were in front of Lee's house. Of course, it took five minutes before Gaara got back in the truck, and she had to keep averting her gaze so as not to watch their very publicly-made private moment. Hm, she didn't know that Mr. Gai Maito was Lee's dad, why did they have different last names? Figures though, they look just alike! It was only another couple minutes before they got to her house. She said her thanks and started making her way to the front door before she realized that Kankuro was following her. She looked back at him inquisitively.

"Yeah, just want to make sure you get in alright," he said with a smirk.

She very lightly blushed, "Oh…well, thanks Kankuro. Look, I'm sorry you had to go so far out of your way and all…"

"Nah, it's no big. Hey, I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Ino," he said, giving her another wink before turning around.

She smiled, "Bye."

In fact, the smile remained on her face all the way to her doorstop, mainly because he didn't drive away until she unlocked her door and stepped inside. She shook her head, and turned around.

Her smile quickly faded as Chouji was sitting on her sofa. And he looked pissed.

~*R*~

A/N: Winner of the $10 cyber bucks give-a-way: **Lunetaylina**! She also gets a totally rad fist-bump! -)*(-

We're not done folks, **xiLynnx** & **ppeach2** get $5 cyber bucks, respectively, for also knowing the question from last chapter. I heart Within Temptation, and I'm seriously crushing on their new album!

I really want to thank everyone for alerting and adding this story to the favorites. And the reviews, wow, the reviews were awesome. Some of them were pretty heartfelt and just great to read. Please keep the comments coming - they are inspiration!

Peace-pipe out, ~Lady Crack


	3. Chapter 3

This was one of the few classes that had mixed years of students, anywhere from sophomore to junior and senior, as elective courses were a seemingly easy grade. Ms. Kurenai Yuuhi was the instructor of one such class, she was a brilliant art and music teacher. And she was just about to drop the bomb on her first class. It was a project she developed that she would be trying out for the first time, the inspiration brought on by…well, she couldn't exactly recall, perhaps it was some movie.

"Good morning, quiet down now. Now that I've had some time to observe your individual talents, we're ready to move into the project I talked about on our first day…."

Hinata could barely focus, she always had a hard time in this class, even though she loved music. But it was because _she _was also in this class, _she_ as in Sakura, the girl who hurt her so badly at the end of last school year. Just to think, it was months ago. Here she was, a junior now, and of course her first and only class with Sakura would be bright and early in the morning.

"Alright, based on your different talents, you'll be placed into four groups of five students. You'll each have the rest of the semester to figure out the roles of each member, write the music and lyrics, practice, and perform your best piece at our assembly in January. Yes, Sakura?"

"Wait a minute, I thought you said that this was all voluntary?"

Kurenai Yuuhi grinned at her brilliant pink-haired music student, "You can look at it that way, I'll put it like this…half of your grade this semester depends on your performance." She took in the shocked faces of her students, she really wasn't sure why they were so surprised, it was described in their course definition when they signed up for this elective class. "Alright, you're group will be responsible for picking a name to go by, private time has been selected for each group to practice in the auditorium. Okay, the first group is…"

~*R*~

They were group number three, consisting of five girls. A mixture of three juniors and two seniors, and two of those girls were pretty much quiet and to themselves allowing the other three to totally dominate their arrangements and placement in the so-called 'band assignment'.

Ino Yamanaka, Sakura Haruno, Temari Sabaku, Hinata Hyuuga, and Tenten Tanaka.

Five girls. Five different personalities. They were doomed to fail.

"Okay, so we'll need someone on drums, two guitarists, someone on the piano, and a lead singer," Sakura initiated.

"Not too mention back-up singers to the lead vocalist and the violin would be helpful," smarted Ino.

"Why don't we figure out what each of us is good at and go from there?" Temari suggested, looking at the under class girls as though they were stupid.

"Great idea Temari, I can sing and play the guitar," Sakura jumped in with excitement. Even though, she felt extremely uncomfortable being anywhere near her boyfriend's ex.

"Whatever Forehead, _I_ can actually sing…"

"Yeah right, don't you mean snort like a pig?"

Ino glared at the pinkette and continued on, "and I can play the violin and bass."

Temari sighed, "Drums for me, I can't carry a tune to save my life. Okay, and you two?"

"Piano," both Hinata and Tenten replied before glancing at each other.

"We will only need one of you on the piano, so…do either of you have anything else to offer?"

Both shook their head no and then looked down. After blinking, Temari asked if either could sing.

"Um…well, I s-sing, but…I'm not any…any good," Hinata said turning red.

"I think we should just let ALL of us sing and decide then, because there is no way Sakura is going to be the lead vocalist."

"You only wish you could sing as well as I can, Piggy."

Temari sighed, "Enough, I need a good grade on this project, so stop acting like little children."

"You're just pissed cause you're not on Shikamaru's team," sassed Ino.

After getting in her face Temari growled and said, "You want to start something little girl?"

"Please stop," Hinata mumbled.

Rolling her eyes, Temari motioned for Sakura to sing first.

Pleased that she was chosen first, she broke out by singing a tune familiar to her…which was Happy Birthday.

"Oh how original Bilboard-Brow," Ino said sarcastically.

"Shut up and listen," Temari demanded.

Sakura's voice was good enough, maybe a little too nasily at times, but overall it was nice and wouldn't sound too bad accompanied by music. Ino decided to go next and hers was actually a little worse than Sakura's. As in it was scratchy and she sounded almost raw, no one but her knew that it was because Chouji had his hands wrapped around her throat the night before, hence the turtleneck she wore. She made the excuse that she had a sore throat. Temari decided to go ahead and go next since the other two weren't volunteering. She was right, she really couldn't carry a tune. Tenten sang, but her voice was way to light, as in she had no force behind it. Finally it came to Hinata, the shy girl.

"Well, so far Sakura's our best bet. Let's see what you got Hinata," Temari said.

She gulped and then closed her eyes. They waited patiently; well, a little patiently while she gathered her nerves. She started off soft and way high-pitched, but her voice evened itself out and…and she lost herself as she usually did and with her eyes closed blocking everyone and everything out, she let go. The raise in her pitch fluctuated beautifully as she sang an old Konoha summer lullaby. To say the least when she finished, her eyes opened to see the others all with wide eyes and open mouths.

"Woah. That was…that was amazing girl, I had no idea you could sing like that Hinata," Ino complimented, "My votes on her."

"Yeah. Yeah, I agree," Temari said.

"Oh please, she's way too high-pitched…" Sakura said while rolling her emerald eyes.

"She's our lead vocalist, we'll need you on the guitar anyway…" interrupted Temari with a small glare.

"Who died and made you boss?" she retorted with hands on her hips.

Temari placed a hand on her temple, "Seniority, got that Junior?"

"You think just because you're a Senior it means you can make all the decisions?" Sakura said smartly.

Taking a step towards the fiery pink-haired girl, Temari frowned, "When it makes logical sense then yeah, what are you going to do about it?"

"Just shut up Sakura, she's right okay."

"Whatever Ino," Sakura said crossing her arms.

"I…I don't want to sing," Hinata said quietly.

"There, see? She doesn't even want to do it!" Sakura announced.

"Oh my, I'm going to end up MURDERING all of you!" Temari yelled. "Just shut up and let's stop wasting time!"

Tenten sighed, "Temari on drums, Sakura on guitar, Ino on bass and violin when needed, Hinata to sing, and me on the piano." They all stared at her as that was the most any of them had ever heard her talk.

"Fine, whatever," Sakura huffed.

For the next half hour they each performed a little of their roles for each other. Temari was pretty talented on the school's drum set, she played both a fast-paced tune and a slow-paced one. And Sakura ripped it up on the guitar, apparently she had been taking lessons from her father since she was a young girl. Same for Ino, though she really rocked on the violin more than the bass. And Tenten surprised them all with her fluent and flawless tones coming from the piano, even if it seemed as if she was forcing the music. Now, they just needed to orchestrate how to bring all of their individuality together to form one unique sound. And that was going to take a long time and a hell of a lot of practice. But it was for a grade, so it had to be done. Thankfully they had practice three times a week, just like the other teams, the only problem was on Fridays, when Sakura and Ino could only participate for a short time because of their cheerleading duties before the game started.

The five girls departed, of course all but Tenten made their way to the field to wait for the boys football practice to be over with. Hinata went straight to her corner bleacher seat and put on her headphones, she pulled out her homework and went away at it. That is until a shadow fell over her. She looked up and found herself staring into the darkest pair of eyes she had ever come across, that and the purple pencil that he was holding up for her.

Cue the blush. She removed her headphones, the music still blasting out, and shivered just the slightest from simply being in his presence. "Oh, um…"

"Your pencil," he said indifferently.

Her blush deepened, and she swallowed nervously, "Thank-thank you."

He barely nodded before moving away from her to sit in the same spot as yesterday. Five feet from her on the same bench and this time he had his own pencil. Her body shuddered but she placed her headphones back on and silently went back to work. The time must have flown by, because before she realized it, Neji and Sasuke were both on their way to them. She stood and started putting her books and homework away appropriately, not wanting to be caught in another conversation like yesterday. Neji stopped midway, as did Sasuke and both waited for them to come down. She rushed to meet him, the aluminum bleachers nearly blinding her. The sun was quite bright today, and just as she turned to make her way down, she nearly tripped. Luckily, a warm hand around her waist stopped her from doing so. Wait…what?

To her absolute horror, she was right. There was a warm hand…make that an arm around her waist…Itachi's arm. The Uchiha prodigy was basically holding her. Her wide lilac eyes took in the face that was so near to her own, his eyes were staring directly into her. Heart beat accelerating, eyes widening and jaw dropping just slightly, Hinata couldn't look away from him to save her life.

He straightened her out and moved in front of her, not saying a word. All she could do was stare at his retreating back as he walked down the steps. She had just made a mental comment of how strong his shoulders seemed when her eyes caught Neji's, and boy did he look annoyed. She watched as he shook his head at her and then proceeded to walk the rest of the way to her side.

"Are you okay, Hinata?" he asked.

"Y-yeah," she said, mouth still open in her surprise. The Uchiha brothers were already on the field by this point, thank goodness. As if she hadn't embarrassed herself enough in front of them yesterday, she had to go ahead and do it again today.

"Let's go home then," he escorted her down the steps and she followed behind him just slightly until they reached his car.

~*R*~

Sakura glared at her former friend, her anger growing to a new high as she watched _the _Itachi Uchiha rescue _her_ from falling down. Hinata was clumsy, always was and always will be. He should have just let her fall.

"If you're trying to shrink your massive forehead Sakura, staring down Hinata is not going to work."

Sakura turned her glare on Ino, "Leave me alone you fat hog, I'm not in the mood."

"Tch," Ino responded with a roll of her eyes and flip to her gorgeous blonde mane, "Obviously, you're too busy obsessing and hating on Hina girl. Just get over it Sakura, she's a much better singer than any of us."

The boys finally came over towards them and overheard the conversation.

"Sounds like we have a potential catfight here," Chouji leered. "My bets on Sakura, she has one hell of a punch."

"Nah," Kankuro grinned at them, "Ino would take her any day."

Ino was both pissed and flattered at the same time, "I'm not the one she's pissed at." Shouldn't it be Chouji defending her, you know, her actual boyfriend?

"Could have fooled me," Naruto said doing his best to diffuse the tension by slinging an arm around Sakura's shoulders. He could feel her body tense up and he frowned down at her from the side.

Ino giggled as Chouji made his way towards her with a cheerful face, "She's mad at Hinata."

Naruto himself tensed his own body, "Why?" he asked staring at Sakura. Hinata was an exceptionally touchy subject when it came to the blonde football player. He knew how much misery he caused her, and remembered every punch to the face from Neji after everything was said and done. He knew he did wrong by Hinata, and that she didn't deserve what he, no they, had done to her.

"Why indeed." Everyone looked up to see Itachi and Sasuke standing on the outside circle. Kiba and Kankuro made room for them, as all eyes stayed on Itachi. "Or perhaps the Hyuuga girl being around a certain someone has angered you so."

She blushed and stuttered, "N-no." She waved her hands in front of her as if to dismiss the entire thing, "It's nothing, let's go Naruto."

His frown deepened, "I wanna know what happened between you and Hinata."

"Nothing Naruto, just drop it!" she threatened, her eyes promising a punch to the head.

Consciously, his gaze went to the pale blue eyes of Ino, silently asking her.

Ino sighed, "It's really not a big deal…" she trailed off as everyone watched Itachi leave, with Sasuke right beside him. Those two… "Are you ready Chouji?"

Ignoring her, Chouji yelled out after the two Uchiha brothers, "Don't forget about my party after the game!"

Ino frowned, "You're throwing a party?" why was this news to her? She thought Kiba was throwing the next bash.

In front of everyone, Chouji grabbed her harshly by the shoulders and glared down at her, "Why do you have to be in all my fucking business?"  
Kankuro stepped forward, "Dude, she was just asking a question."

Furious eyes snapped towards the eldest Sabaku, "Last time I checked she was _my _girlfriend."

"Yeah," Kankuro was never one to back down, "well maybe you should treat her like it."

Chouji stepped closer towards him, "That's funny coming from the guy who treats all girls the same. Except for when it comes to mine!"

"Come on Chouji, enough is enough," Ino whispered knowing she was going to have to pay for it later. "Let's just go."

He hit her. He actually hit her. Right in front of everyone.

Not only did Kankuro pounce on Chouji, but so did Naruto and Kiba. Sakura pulled Ino away from the scrambling boys, checking her over. It was times like this when the two knew they were actually friends deep down. Not only did Ino back her up earlier, but now Sakura was caring after her.

But this, this was not good.

~*R*~

Tenten swiftly made her way home after practice. Instead of doing her homework right away like she usually would have, she dusted off the old piano that had been her fathers.

Lightly she played, hitting the keys softly. But it wasn't enough to keep her mother from sticking her head through the door that connected to the kitchen. Juujuu looked in at her only child playing her deceased husband's favorite instrument. It brought joy to her heart to hear music playing in her home once again.

But the best of all, was the slight pull indicating the makings of a smile on Tenten's face. Juujuu hadn't seen her smile once since that boy broke her heart. She had always liked Lee, he was a good boy. Always did have a flair for being flamboyant, it was just too bad her Tenten had her heart set on him. But her daughter was young yet. Maybe finally playing after two years is a step in the right direction. Smiling brighter, Juujuu went back to work in the kitchen, leaving her daughter be.

Tenten took her time, she hadn't played anything for the past two years until today. Two years ago, her father suddenly had a massive heart attack and passed away. She remembered Lee was the one to help her through it all, though now she wondered if he'd been seeing Gaara then too. It wasn't likely, but still, the doubt was there. Unconsciously, her hands played what her heart was feeling, while her thoughts stayed on her lost friend.

If only he would have told her.

Everything could have turned out so differently! She didn't care if he preferred men, didn't mind at all that he was homosexual. But she did care that he went behind her back, you just don't do that to someone. Maybe she was wrong, because that seemed to be what everyone does all the time. You always hear it on the radio, on tv, at school. So and so is cheating with so and so on so and so. It was ridiculous.

She grew up in a house where strong morals were instilled in her at a young age. When you give your heart to someone, you give all of it. To her, respect meant something. She thought it did to Lee too, but obviously not.

And why did he still have to call her every night! Why did he still want to be friends? Doesn't he get it? It's not that she's ashamed of him, she's still hurting! It still hurts! She loved him!

She was…she was angry.

Angry at herself, angry with Lee. Furious at the people who made fun of them.

Soon she realized how harshly she was pressing down on the keys, the loudness of her hands playing over the old keys vibrated throughout the entire house. Suddenly she stopped playing, shocked to realize that hot tears were racing down her cheeks. Practicing in front of the other girls today must have gotten to her, more than she ever may have realized had she not touched her father's piano.

It had been so long since she played on those old keys.

So long.

~*R*~

Shaking her head in disgust, Temari tapped her foot as she thought about adding a few more bruises to her stupid brother's stupid cheek.

Preposterous.

Completely absurd.

"One more fight Kankuro! One more!" Temari warned him as the three siblings sat together at the dining room table.

Kankuro sighed as he removed the ice package from his bottom lip, "I know Temari."

The blonde-haired girl went back to shaking her head, "What the hell were you thinking!"

Kankuro pushed back into his seat and away from the table, crossing his arms over his chest, "That bastard slapped her! How was I supposed to just stand there and watch him beat on her! I won't do that again!"

Gaara's eyes narrowed at the reminder of their past, "No one will lay a hand on you again," he murmured coldly to Temari.

Temari herself couldn't help the slight tremble that ran up her spine. Bad memories do that to a girl.

"What was I supposed to do Temari?" Kankuro pleaded, "Let him beat her up?"

"It's not like you weren't the only one to jump in," she pointed out.

"Whatever. Look, I'm sorry that the fight happened on school grounds and I got suspended for three days. But I'm not going to apologize for standing up for an innocent girl against an abusive shit-hole like Chouji."

Throwing her head back, Temari closed her eyes, "If you get into one more fight Kankuro, that's it. You'll be expelled. We're seniors now, one more fight and you could lose everything. No football, no graduation and certainly no college."

Gaara remained silent, he always did during his elder siblings fights. Rarely did he ever contribute. Besides; right now all he could think about were sour memories from their childhood.

Kankuro stood up and threw the ice pack into the sink behind him and made his way out the door, stopping to say one last thing to his sister, "I'd rather lose all that than sit by and feel guilty for not stopping it. I have better morals than that. You should know, I learned them from you."

Temari watched with sudden teary eyes as her twin walked away from them. She didn't really blame him for attacking Chouji like that, hell she probably would have done the same if she had the chance. Still, she had a sinking feeling that Kankuro had more invested in the attack that what he was telling her. She just had that gut clenching feeling that…her twin had it bad for Miss Popularity, Ino Yamanaka.

Good Kami, help us all.

**A/N:** Alright, calling all creative geniuses! I REALLY need your help on coming up with the all-girl band name for this fic. I am seriously coming up with nothing – so if at all interested, please include a suggestion in a review, or you can PM me. I'll put up a poll when I get enough responses. THANK YOU SO MUCH! XD ~Lady Crack


	4. Chapter 4

Rocking back and forth, listening to heartbreaking music blasting from her earphones, Ino sat alone in her bedroom. Hot tears ran aimlessly from her light sapphire orbs, what was she supposed to do? Chouji was going to be there in a few minutes. She didn't want to have the approaching conversation, but she had to. She loved him, Kami she loved him so much, but she couldn't handle it anymore.

It was cloudy outside with the promise of rain. She caught a glimpse of her own reflection staring back at her in the glass window pane. She looked defeated. Her normally brilliant eyes were dull and lifeless, her smile was no where to be seen.

Her cheek didn't have that red sting on it any longer.

But it hurt, and the pain was a reminder. She can't believe he actually struck her in front of everyone like that. She just couldn't wrap her mind around it.

A slight knock to her bedroom door caught her attention, she watched as the knob turned slowly, listened as the wooden door creaked opened. A fear she had always put aside rose strongly within her. She was terrified of him. When did things get this bad? It felt as though her heart clenched just knowing who was on the other side.

Chouji closed the door behind him; a dull thud of uncertainty signaled his presence in _her_ room. He had been here countless times, laughing, kissing…making love. He walked towards her as her body trembled with new tears cascading down her cheeks. He raised a hand and on instinct she flinched away from him.

"Ino, you know it's hard for me, I never meant to hurt you," his voice was low and full of shame. "I promise I'll make it up to you, just don't leave me. I need you so much."

Her lips shook and a chill crept down her spine, "Chouji…I-I…"

"Look at all we've been through; please don't give up on me…on us."

"Y-you hit me!" she said in shock, "What am I supposed to say Chouji? I love you but…I can't do this anymore. I can't be with you."

"Ino, I love you so much, you are everything to me. Please just give me one more chance, don't do this."

She shook her head no, as more tears raced from her eyes.

He got on his knees in front of her to look her in the eyes. She saw the old familiar friendly gaze she fell in love with, it seemed so long ago now. He grabbed her chin lightly, ignoring her shudder. He kissed her tenderly. She could never deny that there was passion between them, it was always there underneath the surface. But when that passion boiled up, so did the rage and pain of regret.

"I promise you Ino, I'll clean up. I just need you, I'll do whatever it takes to keep you."

"You said that before though, Chouji."

"I mean it; there isn't anything I wouldn't do for you."

She sniffled, tears streaming down her cheeks, "Just leave," she lowered her eyes as all the sadness washed over her, "I can't trust you anymore."

He sighed and closed his own eyes, tilting his head back. "Look," he whispered, "I know I messed up big this time. I wish I could take it all back but I…"

"…but you can't," she said wiping the moisture away from her face, "You can't just come here and tell me that you're sorry Chouji. I gave you too many chances already." Now she lowered her own voice and whispered so that he could barely hear her, "I'm tired of being hurt."

He stood suddenly and turned his back to her, she could see the struggle he was experiencing to not cry in front of her. Ino watched his entire frame shake and felt horrible for it. She was hurting him just as much now. They just weren't good for each other. At all. She wanted desperately to help him, he was honestly her first love. Crushes were one thing, but this thing with Chouji went way beyond that. As doubts entered her mind she wondered if she would ever be able to let go.

She felt a pain in her chest when she heard him sniffle lightly. She caused that. It was her that was causing him anguish now. She was no better than him hitting her, they truly did deserve each other.

But when would it be enough? When would it ever be enough? When one them was dead, probably her? What kind of life did she expect to live if she had to watch her back every time she was with her boyfriend? That wasn't a life at all!

It was just a lie!

Sobs racked her frame as her hands came up to cradle her tender face, ashamed of the tears she shed over herself. Before she knew it she was in his arms, in the loving embrace she so clearly remembered and craved for the old Chouji. Ino clung to him, pulling him closer to her as he never ceased the whispering promises in her ear. He knew exactly what she needed to hear and before long his hands were at her breasts with his mouth hot on her neck.

Once again, she gave in to him. Hoping this time it would be worth it; that he meant the things he said.

That it wasn't just all lies.

~*R*~

It wasn't even an awkward week later and the five girls were together again for practice. Or bitch-fest as the case may be. Bottom line was that they were getting nowhere.

"Sakura, you are on my last damn nerve," Temari seethed.

The pink-haired beauty scowled darkly at the older blonde, "It's not my fault that we suck!"

Ino rolled her baby blue's and shook her head slightly to move her long bang to the side of her face, "Whatever billboard-brow, it's obvious you are purposely messing up our practice."

Honestly, Temari was pretty damn upset with Ino too. How could a girl let her boyfriend hit her and be fine with it? Ino came back to school after her cheek healed, and Chouji was right there on her arm. It was ridiculous to think that Kankuro could have been expelled over a stupid girl like her!

Sakura's face turned red in anger at Ino's comment and she actually stomped her foot in her frustration, "I'm not the one who can't project her voice!" she glared at Hinata.

Tenten had just about enough of this. They had only been attempting to practice for twenty minutes now. It had been nothing but sunshine and roses…yeah right. She wasn't much for talking lately, but seriously, this was idiotic, "Instead of acting like petty juveniles, here's a thought, we can put our differences aside and get something done."

Temari grinned fiercely at the bun-wearing brunette, "The more you talk the more I like you."

Tenten nodded in acknowledgement at the rare compliment.

"What do you s-suggest we do?" Hinata asked behind a curtain of dark indigo hair and a blush, "Every time we start to pla…."

"What she's trying to say is, how do we keep Forehead over here from trying to play over Hinata's voice?" Ino interrupted.

"Like I said, it's not my fault she can't sing loud enough so we can hear her over my guitar," Sakura smarted off.

"What the hell is your problem Sakura?" Temari sneered at the girl, "What did Hinata ever do to you?"

Sakura didn't step down one bit, "None of your business so just back off!"

Hinata frowned and pouted; in reality she didn't understand the tension either. She would like to know the answer to those questions as well.

"Wanna bet? It is my business, it's _all_ of our business! How are we supposed to work together if we can't even get along!?" Temari said getting right in Sakura's face. "Now, be a good girl and tell us what your complex is so we can all pretend to care and get on with practice."

Tenten sighed and crossed her arms over her chest while Ino kept nodding her head back and forth, agreeing with everything that Temari was saying.

Sakura gasped loudly, "How dare you!? Just stay out of it, it has nothing to do with you."

Temari put her hands on her hips and smirked, "Fine with me, but drop the attitude, you're the only one here who's making a big deal out of everything."

Both Tenten and Ino raised their brows…really now, because from where they are sitting it looked to be two-sided, if not more-sided.

"Um, Sakura…I-I would like to know wh-what I can do to f-fix this," Hinata said in a quiet voice.

Sakura paled just the slightest as her vivid green eyes sparkled with fresh tears. She gulped but didn't say anything further. It had been months since she heard Hinata's soft voice directed towards her.

Ino sighed and threw an arm around her long-time rival's shoulders, "Sometimes its best to just let things go Forehead. I don't understand what your deal is, but maybe if the two of you sit and talk it out you could clear the air."

Sakura shook her head, "I don't have anything to say."

Hinata held her breath for a second, the hurt stinging her chest, "But-but why?"

Tenten and Temari watched as crystalline tears pooled in the Hyuuga girls' eyes and witnessed as they spilled down her cheeks. Unconsciously, both of their throats tightened in sympathy for the quiet girl. Ino put up both of her hands as if giving up and went back to her violin to start practicing on her own.

Not another word was said for the rest of their practice, all of them just playing or singing dully to pass the time and get the hell out of there and away from each other.

~*R*~

It was raining just as Tenten was making her way home, she was mentally exhausted. Or it could be the blood loss from her most recent cut. Either way, she was dead tired and looking forward to just crawling into her bed after another horrible practice session. She was so glad that she wasn't involved in any of that drama. It was ridiculous how childish Sakura was acting. How all of them were being.

Whatever. It hurt to even think about it.

Sighing, she pulled her beat up vehicle alongside the curb and didn't bother running for shelter from the rain. She walked slowly, as if to savor the pouring rain beating down on her. But then she stopped. She just stood there. Her body became cold and numb. Because right there, sitting on her porch with their head in their hands was Lee, her homosexual ex-boyfriend.

And again the anger bubbled up within her, she wanted to scream at him, maim him even. Slamming her eyes shut she thought to herself how this was the last thing she wanted to deal with right now. Even though she knew it was only a matter of time before Lee confronted her. He just wasn't the sort of guy to leave hard feelings alone. Sooner or later she knew he would finally just come to her.

Her body went rigid as she watched him look up and see her. His shoulders lifted just the slightest as he stood. They stared at each other for a few minutes, the rain falling between them…like the many tears she had shed over his betrayal.

Finally he called out to her, "Come Tenten, let us get out of the rain." It didn't matter that he was perfectly sheltered standing there on her porch, he still involved himself. It took her a few seconds before finally taking that first step towards the house, towards him. When she reached the steps of her porch, she paused, hesitated. She was so…angry with him. Why couldn't he just leave her alone!?

"You must be freezing, come on," he held out his hand for her, willing her to come to him.

She wanted to do the opposite, to run from him and the painful memories.

He frowned as she walked right past him, they stood there, under the roof of the small porch. "Tenten, why haven't you been taking my calls?"

Just hearing his voice again sent chills down her spine, the reminder was always there. "Why haven't you gotten the hint that I don't have anything to say to you?" Was that really her voice, that bitter sound?

He flinched at her tone, "How many times do I have to apologize Tenten? It is most un-youthful for you to ignore me so."

"Shut up about being un-youthful! You don't know anything Lee! Just leave!" she pointed to the road.

He took a small breath and stared her hard in the eyes, she knew that look. He was determined, "I'm not going anywhere." He sighed deeply, "Tenten I…I miss you."

"Just shut up! How can you stand there and say anything to me, especially say that you miss me!?"

"I understand that you are angry, just talk to me."

"Why!? Why should I say anything to you Lee? You broke _my_ heart and you can just stand there and demand that I talk to you?"

He was openly crying, he was always an emotional person and she knew it hurt him to lose a friend, "I'm sorry Tenten, I was confused and I didn't want to believe it, but it just, it just happened." He looked just as lost as she felt, "I never wanted to hurt you. Please Tenten, I'm so sorry."

"Save it, I don't care anymore Lee," she knew how broken she sounded, but that was how she felt. After all the things she'd been through since she found out, she was just wrecked. "I'm done," she whispered.

He modestly fell to his knees and looked up at her with his big dark eyes, so full of sorrow and shame, "Please…forgive me. I can understand if you are ashamed to be friends with me, but please…I beg you."

She slapped him. It was something she wanted to do from the start and it felt so, so good, "This has nothing to do with the fact that you're gay Lee! It was never about that! You know good and well that I would have supported you through thick and thin. But you lied! You led me on like the complete fool I am!" she continued on, not caring at the hot tears pouring from her eyes, "I don't care if you are gay or not! I do care about the way you handled it." She sobbed and whispered to herself, "You broke my heart."

"I know and I'm sorry Tenten, I'm just a loser who hurts the people I love."

She sighed and angrily wiped tears away from her face, "And with you pretending that everything is fine just makes it worse."

He grabbed her hand and frowned in hurt as she immediately pulled away, "What else can I do? I am truly sorry, I mean that from the bottom of my heart."

"Give me time Lee, stop trying. Just stop and leave me alone."

He shook his head harshly, "I can't do that, you are too important to me."

Her lips trembled. He was right and she knew it, he would never just walk away. It just wasn't the way Lee did things. "Time. Please, just give me more time. It…it…to look at you…and him…it…"

He nodded his understanding. Tenten was a proud girl, he knew that, "Okay," he started to walk down into the rain, taking his time. He paused before eventually turning to her. They shared a glance of hurt before he put his thumb up and grinned at her, "I'll only call twice a week."

Before she could respond and correct him he was already running down the street. She shook her head at his familiar antics. Idiot. And curse it all…she was fighting internally to stay angry.

It was a start.

**A/N:** SOOO, I was trying to wait & get to a comfortable place before I posted more to this story...then I realized I hadn't posted in like...ten chapters ago. So here you all go, 10 chapters of this story, enjoy the lengthy read, lol!

~Lady Crack


	5. Chapter 5

The morning was cold and wet, the clouds were still emitting rain as the two Hyuuga cousins walked side by side towards the main entrance of the school. Neji, being the gentleman that he is, carried the large black umbrella over both of them as if to shield them from nature's frolics. Hinata was trying to convince her cousin to not attempt homicide on one Sakura Haruno.

It was her mistake in the first place to even give in to his questioning the evening before. By the time Hinata made it home the tears decided to run obliviously down her cheeks to pool and drip from her chin. And of course her overprotective cousin happens to find her before she can make it the solace of her own bedroom. Immediately concerned Neji inquired her distress and eventually she revealed how upset she really was about Sakura and the hurtful way she was being treated during music practice.

Neji had been furious and was basically a loose cannon when he found out what Naruto did to her, and to hear that she was still having problems with the girl the bastard cheated on her with; well, it put him in quite a sour mood.

So instead of Neji offering any sort of comfort to an upset Hinata, it was _her_ who ended up offering comfort to _him_. Which; honestly, in the end helped Hinata feel better. Apparently Neji knew what he was doing by promising immediate death threats after all. Because it certainly shifted Hinata's attitude and focus, he really _is_ a genius.

"Really Neji, please just let it go," she said softly as they ascended the stone stairs leading to the huge double doors of the school.

He released a long-suffering sigh, "There is no reason for that girl to treat you like this…"

"…I know, b-but I will take care of it," she whispered, reminding him that this was a private conversation.

"I doubt that," he said glancing at her from the side, noticing the sudden hurt look in her eyes. "I'm sorry Hinata, but when it comes to your well-being…"

"…It's my life and-and if I want to suffer then so be it," she interrupted him-again with a childish pout.

He closed the umbrella and stared at her, "You are incredibly stubborn, cousin."

Naturally she blushed and smiled shyly at him, "I learn from the best."

He smirked and shook his head at her and then simply walked away. He does that sort of thing all the time, his walking away marks the end of a conversation.

Hinata let out a long drawn out sigh before heading to her locker to get her textbook out for the first class. It was Wednesday and that meant music was right afterwards with Sakura and the rest of her temporary band-mates. She couldn't call them friends, because really just about none of them got along with each other.

She wished she could understand why. They hurt her, not the other way around. So why was Sakura being so…mean…defensive? How was that fair? She lost her train of thought, which she was grateful for, until she noticed who it was that was trying to get her attention.

"Oh," she said with widened eyes. "N-Naruto."

She watched as the boy with the bright blue eyes and striking blonde hair immediately scratched the back of his neck in awkward tension, "Yeah, hi Hinata."

Hugging her book to her chest and looking away from him she said, "I-is there s-something you need?"

"Uh, well, I guess I just wanted to see if you were okay. With, you know," he laughed uncomfortably, "Anyway um, so you alright?"

Before she had a chance to answer him a new voice cut in, "Naruto, you really are a loser."

"Shut up Sasuke! No one is even talking to you!"

"Um, I-I need to get t-to class, so," and she pulled a Neji and started to walk away.

But Naruto didn't let her, "Wait up Hinata," he grabbed her arm which in turn made her drop her textbook, "Oh here, let me help you with that. Sorry."

Only Sasuke had already picked it up and glared at the blonde while handing it back to Hinata, "You are such a loser."

Naruto actually growled, "Go away bastard!" He turned his attention back to Hinata who was already half way down the hall. "What the hell is your problem, Sasuke?" Naruto asked as he rounded on him again.

"No moron, what is your problem?"

Naruto gave Sasuke an incredulous look, "I was just trying to talk to Hinata!"

Sasuke stepped angrily into the blonde's personal space, "And I told you not to bother her, haven't you done enough already?"

"Why the hell do you care anyway!?" Naruto roared causing everyone to look at them.

Sasuke shook his head as though he were disgusted with him, "Ask yourself that question idiot."  
"What did you say?" Naruto asked in a furious manner.

"You didn't hear me the first time? Why all of a sudden do you care, loser?"

Naruto punched him square in the jaw. Sasuke pounced. Everyone cheered them on.

Hinata was early to class and missed the entire thing.

~*R*~

In all appearances she was sitting there giving her microbiology instructor the highest attention. To anyone who would happen to look her way they would see a vision of the perfect student. Taking adequate notes when necessary and hanging onto every word during the long lecture. Or so it seemed, because honestly that was not the case. She was taking notes, but they had nothing to do with the class, they were actually ideas for lyrics for her group project in Ms. Yuuhi's class.

Sakura sighed just the slightest and quickly penned another line before bringing her eyes back to Mr. Orochimaru. He was the creepiest teacher, according to just about every student who had ever walked the halls at Konoha. Oh well, she had learned last year how to work around his oddness, anything to earn a good grade.

Wait, what did he just say?

Finally trying to actually pay attention, Sakura felt like her world was just destroyed. Her eyes blinked in her surprise, she really thought that the project would be completed individually. Now he was assigning partners? She sighed, this was an advanced science class, so she could only hope that whoever her partner turned out to be would do their fair share. What a bummer, and she had such a cool idea too.

Looking around the room at her classmates she could tell that most of them were just as uneasy about the prospect as she was. For some reason there is just never any chamadarie between students in any of Mr. Oro-crazy's classes.

"Another project," she said under her breath. She was already working on the huge project for music. It was incredible at how much time it was taking for the 5 of them to try and even get a tempo going, let alone get their own styles in tune together. It just wasn't working out. Last thing she needed was yet another project added on to her already busted schedule.

Mentally mapping out the new challenge, she habitually latched onto one of her long pale-pink bangs and slowly twisted it around her finger. Deep in thought she missed the first couple of pairings that were announced. Lucky for her though, she was paying attention when her own name was called.

Wide-eyed her gaze immediately met the eyes of her new partner; she had actually forgotten that he was even in this class. It was probably the only one they shared together.

"Another Hyuuga," she gasped to herself.

The Kami's hated her.

She realized in alarm that he was making his way towards her. What the hell else had she missed during Mr. Orochimaru's lecture? Sakura watched, her mouth slightly ajar, as Neji coolly pulled a chair to sit across from her. He merely folded his arms, leaned backwards, and stared at her. That was the thing with the Hyuuga's; their pale, almost white eyes had always been unsettling…at least in her opinion.

Fidgeting under his calculating gaze, she finally just met him head on. She never was one to cower down, well…not anymore. Those days were long gone, and she wasn't going to let Neji Hyuuga get the best of her. He would not bring her down.

Why was everything always a battle for her? Did she bring it on herself?

"At least we have free reign on our topic," he remarked in his ever-calm voice.

She nodded rather absently, that was something else she missed during the lecture, "Did you have any project ideas?"

His silver-laced eyes narrowed just the slightest before his expression went back to indifferent, "A few."

"O-kay," she said dragging the word out, "I do to."

He nodded just once, arms still crossed, eyes still staring into her own. Damn he was unnerving! Well, two could play at that game! Sakura, fighting back a sudden mischievous smile, crossed her arms and sat back in her chair – the exact mirror replica of her new partner. His eyes narrowed again, just the slightest. So did hers.

It was war.

And for some ridiculous reason, she was highly amused.

~*R*~

In a classroom on the other side of the school campus, Temari was anything but amused.

This was actually a free hour for her, so she was trying to get ahead on her English textbook assignment in homeroom. Trying, but epically failing at the self-assigned task. Most people view Temari as a loud and brash, spunky female; however, the girl liked her quiet from time to time as well. Quiet time was impossible in homeroom.

She dreaded homeroom, absolutely dreaded it. Not only was it loud and obnoxious, but she had _him_ in this hour as well. And _he_ kept trying to talk to her.

"I know you can hear me, Temari."

She cringed at his voice.

He sighed, "Quit being so troublesome and talk to me."

Temari glared at her on and off again boyfriend, he immediately raised his hands in surrender. She shook her head, it was so hard to stay angry at him.

"I'm sorry, you're not troublesome."

She nodded her head, "There, that's better."

"How long are you going to be mad at me this time?"

Temari slammed her fist down onto her desk, "Oh I don't know Shikamaru, how long are going to view our relationship as troublesome?"

"I don't," he denied, irritation visibly clear on his expression.

She released out a frustrated sigh and roughly closed the book she had been attempting to read, "That is all I ever hear, quote unquote this is such a drag, what did you expect me to think?"

Shikamaru looked into her eyes, her beautiful uniquely teal eyes and saw the hurt, "You're not troublesome," he reached for her hand, "you are worth every effort."

Damn him! How was she ever going to break the spell that he had on her? No one could piss her off like Shikamaru could, but then again, no one could melt her heart like this either. One look from his deep eyes and she was like putty in his palm. She was not weak, she could resist him. The question was if she really wanted to or not. He blew everything off like it was nothing, and in the process, made her feel like _she_ was nothing to him. But when he looked at her, just like he was right now, with that damn serious expression in his eyes and that sculpted determination set in his jaw…there was just no denying him. She tried, oh how hard she has tried to sever all ties with him. He just refused to let go, and honestly she refused to let him.

He could see it, right there in her eyes. He watched her emotions rolling around in those stormy teal depths and knew he had won. Shikamaru wasn't stupid, he knew that he messed up when it came to his lack of interest in their relationship. It wasn't like him to put forth the effort in basically anything. They had the chemistry from the first day they met, and you can bet it was her who pushed him into dating. He always just went along with whatever she wanted. He didn't realize he was just making things miserable for her. He never really tried. She would want to go do this or go do that, and really, all he wanted was to simply relax and stare at clouds all day. So he was habitually lazy, he thought just showing up for dates would be enough to keep her content.

But it wasn't.

They'd broken up at least three times before for various reasons, and this last time she had been mad at him for a good month. He really thought he'd lost her. So he promised himself that he wouldn't let it happen again. He would still show up when she wanted to go out, but he would at least try. He would start suggesting things they could do, he would show her that he was ready to really give it a shot.

She was gorgeous and a whole lot of trouble to handle. But he had fallen for her inner spirit, that fire that drives Temari to be the amazing girl that she is. He would change his ways, for her. Because Temari was worth it, she really was. So what if he had to put up with her crazy mood swings, nothing in this world compared to receiving her love.

She sent him a tired smile, "I'm tired of fighting, Shikamaru."

His eyes narrowed the slightest amount as he had the feeling she was giving him a double meaning of the phrase. His eyes pierced hers as he leaned in closer to her face, "then stop fighting me, just be with me." He felt her hand tremble lightly, it was so rare for Temari to ever show any sign of vulnerability.

He made it all sound so easy, but it wasn't. She didn't want to be part of something that he felt wasn't worthwhile. She was tired of it all, so tired of feeling neglected. They were at a point to either stick it out and really give it a go, or let things drift further apart. She had never been as close to someone like she was with Shikamaru. She didn't want to just let him go. She was stubborn enough to keep him, but was it good for either of them? She didn't know, and this was something she felt that she should know by now.

She felt a slight pressure on her cheek, when had he gotten so close? She turned to face him, their lips so close to touching. She was paralyzed from the way he was gazing at her. He stared at her. She stared at him. And then she gave in and met his kiss. .


	6. Chapter 6

"Every word you're saying is a lie.

Run away my dear, but every sign will say your heart is dead.

Bury all the memories, cover them with dirt.

Where's the love we once had? Our destiny's unsure.

Why can't you see what we had, let the fire burn the ice.

Where's the love we once had, is it all a lie?"

Hinata's voice faded into the walls of the auditorium, reaching each girl in a different way. The fluctuating tones of her voice creating different reactions. The sound of the piano and finally the violin faded out as well.

Temari and Sakura watched as their three band mates coordinated a piece that they all finally agreed to attempt and make a sound out of. Ino had approached them at practice with some lyrics and eventually Temari added in a few lines as well. They decided to let Ino play the tune she was trying to explain to them. Tenten soon got the drift of what she was trying to sound out and the two started working together for the past hour. Eventually, Temari talked Hinata into adding the lyrics to the final practice run.

Finally it seemed as if they were getting somewhere.

Temari smiled at the three girls still on the large auditorium stage; that sounded damn good to her ears. She glanced at Sakura and was surprised at the slight smile on her face. Maybe things were finally starting to turn around. Just maybe.

"Crap! We gotta go Sakura!" Ino bellowed out, her voice vibrating loudly throughout the old auditorium.

The pinkette checked the time on her phone and nodded immediately, "We needed to leave half an hour ago!"

Hinata, Tenten, and Temari watched as their two other project partners ran out of the auditorium. Time had really gotten away from everyone. It was a Friday afternoon and school had already let out, but it was also a day set aside for cheerleading practice. Ino and Sakura were only supposed to stay for forty five minutes before heading out. Oopsies.

Temari raised a single eyebrow, "Well, I guess that ends our practice session, see you two later."

Since Temari really didn't get any practice in, she was able to leave right away. It was different for the other two girls; however, since they had dug out their notebooks to get the lyrics and music notes together for practice. The silence between them was awkward as they had never really spoken to each other alone before. Hinata was taking her time since football practice was still in full swing, and she had to wait until Neji finished up before they could go home.

As Tenten reached down to grab her book bag, the sleeve of her hoodie raised just enough to give Hinata a glimpse of the bandage underneath. The normally shy girl opened her mouth to inquire about the wrapping, but decided against it at the last second. So instead, she concentrated on grabbing her own bag, all the while racking her brain for a start in conversation.

"Um Tenten, I was-was wondering if you had any-any ideas for lyrics t-too," she asked with a growing blush.

The bun-wearing brunette looked up at the girl in surprise, "Well yeah, I mean I've jotted down some words and note patterns."

"Oh, would you mind sharing?" the girl asked shyly.

Tenten frowned, it was kind of personal. Then again, this was for a grade so, "I guess that would be okay."

Hinata smiled and closed her eyes while Tenten pulled out the notebook she had just put away. The brunette was a little hesitant but finally flipped to the right pages and handed it to Hinata. She watched in anticipation as the shy junior concentrated solely on what was on the paper.

Tenten smiled and lightly blushed as she admitted, "I'm better at writing down patterns than thinking of lyrics, but here," she flipped the page over, "this is what I came up to go with it so far."

Hinata nodded and started to hum the written tune to herself; trying to sound it out loud.

Again, Tenten frowned, "No, that's not the melody I was trying for, slow it down a little."

Trying again, Hinata raised the tone of her humming a few degrees to see if she was getting it right.

She wasn't. Tenten shook her head and immediately re-opened the lid to the keys on the piano. Hinata walked next to her and silently took a seat next to her on the small wooden bench. She was very familiar with the piano, as she had played it for most of her life. Though; honestly, she had always remembered tunes that her mother used to play for her. Everything else she just sounded out for herself. So she watched as Tenten started a soft melody, entranced as the other girl's palms flowed freely over the keys.

Even when the teens parted and Hinata was sitting alone up high in the bleachers, she could not get that melody out of her head. It was beautiful. She remembered a few of the words Tenten had written down, and she added more herself as she sang it softly to herself. The tune was gentle yet dramatic at the same time, and she had fallen in love with it after just one hearing.

She hadn't noticed the shift of movement on the bench she sat on. She hadn't noticed a pair of shadowy eyes glancing at her, trying to listen in on the soft words escaping her mouth. "No, no, that isn't right," she whispered to herself, realizing she was singing the words to the wrong tune. She shook her head and started again.

Itachi's face remained still as an impassive statue, hearing the girl correcting herself. Her voice was soft, yet still had an attractive pitch, at least from what he could hear. She was singing and humming very softly and silently to herself and he could only catch certain parts of her melody.

He wasn't sure why he had chosen to sit beside her; waiting until his younger brother was finished with practice. At first, it was to borrow that pencil, and then he had to return it to her, of course. But why sit near her again? Itachi was a man that preferred silence and isolation over listening to a girl hum to herself, so why did he unconsciously sit near her?

His attention was distracted back to the girl as she sang louder to the apparent bridge of the song, "You'll always be mine, I know deep inside. All that stands is forgiven," she stopped, "Hm. Oh-OH!" he supposed that she finally noticed him.

Shakily, Hinata looked on at the elder Uchiha in horrid fascination, "Hell-hello."

He narrowed his eyes in contemplation as it couldn't be healthy for someone to turn that red in the face. He nodded once in acknowledgement.

She trembled as chills ran down her spine, her skin tingling at the thought that; again, he had caught her off guard. Hinata checked the time on her phone and sincerely hoped that practice would end soon so she could escape the prodigy known as Itachi Uchiha.

She kept stealing glances at him from the side, wondering why he was sitting by her again. Almost every row was available on either side of the field, so why would he sit so near? Hinata enjoyed her peace and quiet very much since being around others that she didn't know made her quite uncomfortable. Then again, sometimes being around others she _did_ know also made her feel awkward. She decided that he had an interesting face, it was sculpted to near perfection. Perhaps his eyes were a bit too large. Or perhaps it was the all-encompassing darkness that seemed to draw her in to the very depth of him.

Silence seemed to continue albeit uncomfortably between them. Hinata attempted to ignore the male sitting next to her as she waited patiently for the practice to end. It was taking forever. Finally she noticed that two of the players were running laps while everyone else was watching them. Wait. Was that…Sasuke and Naruto? Now she was confused, why would only they be running?

"I-Itachi um, d-do you know why Sasuke and Naruto are the only ones run-running?"

"Hn," he replied without removing his eyes from the book he had been reading, "I am sure it has something to do with the fight they got into."

"What?" she spoke as her eyes widened.

Itachi turned to fully look her in the face. She was captivated by the intensity of his shadow-like eyes as he responded, "I believe they had gotten into an argument at school recently, this must be Coach Hatake's way of punishing them."

"Oh," she said more to herself than to him as her gaze once again landed on the two rivaled friends.

He stared at her a bit longer, watching as emotions circled her eyes and face. She was an interesting girl, he was used to having to determine the emotions of people around him; however, with her it was clear as day. It was…intriguing. Itachi watched as she pulled her knees up into her chest and she rested her arms over them, leaning her head down and watched the two boys run. "You are friends with Sasuke, are you not?"

Her head shot towards him, showing him a glimpse of the pain she was fighting off as she stared at the blonde. She fought off another shiver as well, "We are acquainted wi-with one another, yes."

"But not friends," he figured that would be an honest answer. Sasuke didn't make friends easily. Neither did he. But it was interesting that someone from the opposite sex wouldn't immediately claim friendship with his brother; that told him that she was not vain and cared little for how someone looked.

She nodded her head yes, as she still lay atop her arms over her knees, her attention once again moving to the two running boys as they each fought for the lead.

A sudden movement caught both of their attention, as Tenten made her way up the stands towards them. Hinata stood in greeting, although she was curious what she was still doing here.

Tenten barely glanced at the elder Uchiha. Oh, she knew very well who he was, but it made little difference to her. They had never exchanged pleasantries before he graduated a couple years ago, why start now? "I think we got our notebooks mixed up at practice."

Hinata nodded and started to dig around in her book bag to look for Tenten's notebook. This was while Coach Hatake finally called an end to the football practice, so Neji and Sasuke both made their way upwards towards the small-formed group. Sasuke was breathing pretty hard and was covered in sweat, giving his skin an attractive, glowing sheen to it. He glanced at Tenten on his way up, trying to place where he remembered seeing her before.

As they reached the group, Neji nodded towards his old friend, "Tenten, it's good to see you here." She used to come watch him practice with Lee, but since they had broken up he rarely sees her anymore. They and Lee had been friends for a long time, it was hard to stay neutral. Honestly, he wasn't happy with Lee at the moment, but he could see both sides. Bottom line though, Lee should have talked about his feelings with Tenten before doing what he did. It wasn't fair.

She nodded back to him, no smile in sight, "Hey Neji."

"You're that one girl," Sasuke suddenly said, "I remember now."

Tenten immediately went on edge, was he really going to tell everyone that she was crying a few days ago?

"That's right, you dropped your book the other day."

She stared at him, holding her breath. His gaze was right on hers as well, how would this turn out, would he be cruel to her like all the others? "Yeah, I-thank you for returning it."

He shook his head once, "No problem." Sasuke could see that the brunette girl was tense, as if expecting him to harm her in some way. Blowing off the feeling and turning to his brother, he sent a single nod of the head his way, "Let's go Itachi."

The elder Uchiha brother let out a soft sigh and slid his gaze towards his recent companion, the pale girl with long darkish blue silken hair and eyes that reminded him of the moon. She was blushing rather prettily and stood next to her much taller cousin. Snapping his eyes away from her he rose from his seated position and led the way to leave.

Neji watched the two Uchiha's descend the stadium and then his gaze moved towards his long time friend. Tenten looked as white as a ghost, which was abnormal, she usually had a nice glow to her tanned skin. It was beyond time that he and her have a good chat. He tried to give her space but now that her health was clearly at risk, he knew he had neglected her for far to long. If he were honest with himself, he cared too much for her to allow this to go on.

"U-um," Hinata spoke out softly, "Tenten I," she swallowed nervously, "wrote more lyrics down."

"You did?" the brunette asked a bit surprised.

"I'm sorry," Hinata hurriedly spoke, "I just couldn't get the tune out of my head and I wrote all over your notebook."

Tenten felt the urge to smile at the shy girl in front of her, she didn't of course, but mentally she was surprised that she actually wanted to smile at her and even to comfort her. "Don't worry about that, I'll look at it later."

"Tenten," Neji said taking a step towards her, "can I offer you a ride home?"

She immediately took two steps back and shook her head, "No, I'll be fine."

Neji's eyes tightened just the slightest, was she scared of him? "I'll see you later then. Come along Hinata."

The petite girl nodded her acceptance and started to follow Neji down the steps. She stopped though and sent a smile towards Tenten and said, "I had fun working on that song with you, I'll see you Monday."

Tenten just stood there and watched the Hyuuga duo leave. She was shocked beyond her core. Shocked because she…she just smiled. Tenten just smiled. For the first time in over a year, she smiled. It was a small curve of the lips and it didn't last long. But it was a smile. And for the first time Tenten wondered what it was about Hinata Hyuuga that made her forget, even if only momentarily, all the pain she's been in recently.

~*R*~

Ino and Sakura seemed to be on the same page on this particular evening. The cheers during the football game Saturday night went along flawlessly. The other girls on their squad moved along to the well-practiced cheers completely in sync. Yes, the girls cheered on their high school football team straight to victory.

Everyone was in high spirits and light-hearted moods once the after-party got underway. Just like Chouji mentioned to the two Uchiha brothers, he was hosting the party at his house since his parents were out of town for the weekend. Currently Ino was outside gossiping about a rival school's quarterback when the Sabaku twins showed up. Temari glanced her way but moved in another direction to find her currently on-again boyfriend, the girl didn't even acknowledge her. Psh, whatever. Kankuro on the other hand, he definitely let her know that he'd seen her. He gave her the popular yet flirty nod of acknowledgement and headed in her direction.

He was pretty cute, Ino guessed to herself, in a rough and tough sort of way. His brown hair spiked in all sorts of directions, but his best feature; other than the built muscles, were his light brown eyes. Depending on the way he looked at you, they would either appear to smolder seductively or he was about to murder you.

Right now they were definitely smoldering.

"Sure you are allowed to be here?" Ino asked as he took a seat next to her with a small smile.

He grinned at her easily and quickly finished off the rest of his beer and then shrugged, "He'll just have to get over it." Kankuro eyed her from the side before commenting again, "Where's the host of this lame party anyway?" Ino's shoulders rose up indicating that she had no idea, so he just shook his head, "Why do you waste time on that guy? A girl as beautiful as you could have any guy she wanted."

Ino blushed and took his words to heart, she never thought Kankuro could be so sweet and forward, "A guy like you?"

Again, he shrugged, "Not that I'd mind, but I really meant just any guy other than Chouji." The silence seemed to stretch a little between them and so he leaned in closer to her and softened his voice, "Ino, you deserve better."

She laughed bitterly but couldn't meet his eyes, "You really don't know much about me to know what I do and don't deserve," she said sarcastically. Then she looked away from him and her own voice softened as she spoke lowly, "I hurt him just as much as he hurts me. We fit."

He immediately shook his head, "Look Ino, I won't tell you what to do about your own relationship, but a man doesn't raise his hand to the woman he supposedly loves." He saw her eyes start to tear up and felt bad, "I'm sorry, I'm just worried. If you ever want to talk, or just need anything, I'll be here for you."

"Why?" she suddenly turned on him, one single tear making its way down her cheek, "Why would you say something like that, we've partied before, but we've never really talked. So Kankuro, tell me why."

He sighed and waited for a few moments before responding in an understanding voice, "Because I watched someone I love be abused and did nothing about it until it was almost too late," he looked into her misty blue eyes, "I don't want to make that same mistake again. I won't."

She watched him go, watched as he made his way into the house and away from her. Swiftly she downed yet another alcoholic beverage to shake away the bad mood she found herself in. It had been a great night so far and she didn't want anything or anyone to drag her down, even if they had good intentions. Tonight was going to be a good night.

Standing, she made her own way into the familiar house that was her boyfriends. She was here so she might as well have a good time. But first, she needed to _find_ her boyfriend. Something in her gut just told her that she needed to find him right this instance. What she told Kankuro was right, wasn't it? Her and Chouji fit. They take turns hurting each other, but under the surface of all that pain was love. And that is something she just couldn't let go of. It just proved that she could survive all the trials and tribulations.

Except the man of her passions and desires was no where in sight, where the hell was he? Ino groaned, don't tell her that he was already passed out somewhere, or with another girl.

Yes, she loved him. More than she should. But he had always been there for her, supporting her in whatever her heart desired. And now, just because he was going through a rough time, she should just quit on him? So he hurts her every once in a while, so what? His love outweighed the bad. At least…that's what she kept telling herself. They've been through too much to just give up. The relationship they shared was to deeply imbedded within her heart. So if, he hit her every one in a while, it was probably because she did something to deserve it.

Facing his bedroom door, she sighed. Ino could already hear the moans and groans of a couple in the throws of passion. How many times was she going to open this door and witness him making love to another girl?

Slowly she turned the knob of his bedroom door, her heart breaking a little more every time she caught him. With a final sigh she fully opened it, "Chouji, that's enough. Send her," her eyes widened in shock, "S-S-S-Sakura?"


	7. Chapter 7

Kami hot damn, he was already asleep!

Temari seethed as she considered how long her prison sentence would be if she smothered her on-again boyfriend with a pillow. She agreed to meet him at Chouji's party, against her better judgment, and they talked for like half an hour and he fell asleep on a couch. Un-freaking-believable. This is part of the reason why she kept dumping him, and he promised her it would be different this time. She had left to refill her drink and came back to find him snoozing away in the living room. She wasn't even gone for two minutes.

"What's up buttercup?" a certain feral grinning party animal asked, "Woah, don't kill me."

Temari couldn't help the small smile that developed over her mouth, she didn't really mean to turn her _Shikamaru-must-die_ death glare on him. "Call me Buttercup one more time and I won't be able to keep any promises."

The boy grinned and had that same deadly gleam in his eye, "You know the way you talk sometimes is a total turn on."

She laughed at the ridiculousness of his statement and sassed back at him, "Kiba, everything is a turn on when it comes to you."

"This is true," he agreed. "Come on Temari, the night is young and I just picked you to be my dance partner."

"Psh, go pick someone else, I'm busy," she declined.

Kiba's brown eyes frowned at her, "Doing what? Babysitting Sleepy-maru?"

At the reminder of her lazy boyfriend, Temari sharply turned her hate gaze to the sleeping Nara on the couch, "More like planning ways to kill him in his sleep."

"Oh," Kiba preened, "that does sound like fun."

She nodded in agreement.

"I'll help you with that after a dance. Buttercup, I won't take no for an answer. I'm too drunk to care if you're mad at me, though you are way too cute when you get pissed."

"Kiba Inuzuka, are you seriously flirting with me right now?"

"Hm, I like the way my name sounds coming out of your mouth."

She glared at him, "How would you like my fist in your mouth?"

He growled playfully at her, "Even better, I love when you talk violence to me."

Despite herself, she couldn't help but laugh along with him. He was very obviously drunk and she knew he wouldn't remember a thing come tomorrow. So, she decided to mess with him, her boyfriend was sleeping the evening away so might as well have some fun at Kiba's expense. Temari ran her finger down the line of his sternum and turned her deep teal eyes on him, "How about I pull your hair out, how would you like that?"

He met her stare for stare and leaned in closer to her face, "Just as much you would like if I took my belt to that fine ass you got."

Woah, she wasn't expecting that. But he was not about to win this little competition, oh no. So in the spirit of things she moved her mouth next to his ear and whispered, "You do that and I'll kick you in the balls."

He shuddered against her and then whispered in a husky voice, "I'll return the favor by making you scream my name."

Sudden heat shot through her stomach and straight to her groin, and suddenly this wasn't a little competition anymore. "I doubt you could handle my nails raking down your back, little puppy."

Kiba forcefully grabbed her hips and pushed his hardness against her, looking her in the eye as he promised her, "I can handle whatever you have to give me, but can you take my teeth piercing your skin? Puppy or not, I'll have you barking like a bitch in heat in no time."

She was healthily flushed with all the innuendos and sexual tension suddenly running between them. How she allowed this junior punk to get under her skin, she couldn't quite understand, but it was what it was. She was hot and bothered and Kiba was more than willing. Before she knew it, her mind and body was in a daze with Kiba attacking her mouth with his own. Kissing, licking, and nipping at her. Kami, it was searing hot. Temari put just as much effort into this wild kiss without even thinking about it. She felt like both prey and predator at the same time…and she _liked_ it. It was new and it was electrifying.

Kiba heavily moaned into her sweet mouth and his grip proved strong as he took a nice handful of her rear end. The motion brought on some heavy realization on his female kissing partner.

Temari's eyes widened, her mouth still connected to this guy who-was-not-her-boyfriend. Using every bit of forced strength she could conjure up, she struck out both arms to distance themselves. A quick glance showed that Shikamaru lay still sound asleep on the couch.

Kiba's own drunken gaze slowly started to widen as well as he looked at her. "Oh shit," he gulped.

Blazing teal eyes reared back at him and she removed her hands off his chest, as though simply touching him burned her. It did burn, but not necessarily in a bad way. Temari could see how intimidated the little junior was suddenly feeling in her presence, "This never happened, got it?"

Neither had noticed that while Shikamaru was supposed to be sleeping, his face was certainly frowning.

~*R*~

"So, we see each other again."

Tenten's eyes widened as the voice of the younger Uchiha crossed her ears. She was currently in one of the town libraries, only out of absolute necessity to complete a literature project at school, otherwise she would be locked up at home to deal with her troubling pain in peace. Tenten had already put off coming to the library long enough, not wanting to be seen in public. She thought she found an isolated spot here but apparently she thought wrong. Taking a deep gulp she sent him a small shake of the head and tried to concentrate on the book she was reading.

"Where did you find that book? I need another copy for class," he asked while putting his hands in his pocket.

Her hazel eyes glanced towards him and she hesitated. Tenten's voice was light as she answered, "This is the last one here."

"Tch, figures."

She watched with panic rising in her chest as he took a seat at her small, tucked away table. Tenten studied him from behind his book wondering what he was still doing here. Well, at least she wasn't balling her eyes out this time around. She could at least be thankful for that. Still though, he knew she had the last available copy of the book at this library…so why…?

"You know," he began, "you could let me borrow it when your done."

"Or you could try another library," she said, still hiding her face behind the book.

Sasuke folded his arms across his chest and simply stared at her, though really he could only see the two buns she had her hair wrapped in. "I didn't take you as being feisty."

Tenten ignored him. Sasuke smirked to himself as he made himself more comfortable by pulling out his phone and started messing with it. Ten minutes passed and she lowered the book just enough to look over the edge and see him still there, "What are you still doing here?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Playing a game," he glanced at her, "and annoying you into giving me the book."

There was that cursed urge to smile again, but luckily she was able to overcome it and frown at him instead, "Fine, then I'll just go home."

He nodded and continued playing with his phone while Tenten packed up her stuff. She didn't say a word as she made her way out of the library and started to make the mile walk home. It wasn't like she could concentrate with him sitting in front of her, so it's best if she just defused the situation and leave. Only…she wasn't the only one to leave the library. Tenten suddenly experienced that instinctual feeling when you just know someone has their eyes on your back.

Her mouth actually dropped a little when she looked back and saw the tall junior following her. It was creepy as hell! And she wouldn't stand for it. "What are you doing?" she asked firmly.

Sasuke kept walking until he was merely three feet away from her, comfortable enough without intruding her personal space. "Walking," he responded as though it were obvious.

Tenten narrowed her eyes, but then let the anger go. She turned around and started back at her own pace, she was stupid, of course he wasn't following her. He was probably just on his way home or to the other library in town. Ignoring the fact that he had followed her for a good half mile already, she trekked on. Maybe his house was the same direction hers was in. Or maybe he was waiting for the right opportunity to make fun of her.

Lee.

Tenten's shoulders dropped further at the thought of him. He kept his promise and still called her at least twice a week. She still didn't talk to him, and he tried to leave her alone at school, but she knew it wouldn't be long before he'd want to talk about it again. She already knew that tonight she needed to reopen the slice she cut into her forearm. The sting she has become so familiar with already seemed to fade away. It was wrong, Tenten knew that but, what did it matter anyway?

She stopped walking when in front of her house, just staring at the front porch and reliving all the good times she had with Lee there. Good times like the end of their first date leading to her first kiss from a boy, or when he had asked her to homecoming their Sophomore year. She wanted to smile and cry all at the same time. She should have known it was all too good to be true.

"Nice house," a voice said next to her making her jump.

Clutching her chest in an effort to calm her rapidly beating heart down, she gazed at Sasuke in surprise, "What are you," her voice soft, "what are you doing here?"

Shoving one hand in his pocket, Sasuke responded, "Two reasons." Actually there were three, but he wasn't about to tell her that his brother would kill him numerous times over if he didn't make sure the girl got home alright.

She just looked at him expectantly.

"You forgot this," he handed her the same blue notebook she had mixed up with Hinata at school yesterday, "and you didn't say that you _wouldn't_ let me borrow the book, so here I am."

"Well," she started, "Thanks for the notebook I guess but," she found the courage to look into his midnight black eyes, "you didn't have to follow me, you could have just spoken up."

He kept their gazes locked, "It's nice out, why not enjoy a walk."

She sighed and made a quick decision, "Here," she said as she started to get the book out of her bag, "can you just return it to me when you're done?"

Sasuke looked from her to the book and then back to her again, "No, you finish reading it and then hand it over. I'm a fast read so it won't take long." Tenten shook her head and started walking up the stairs to her house. This guy was weird. Like, really weird. Sasuke then spoke up from behind her, making an interesting observation, "Your address is 1010 West Forest? Huh."

She turned around, again. And stared at him, again. "What is your deal? Is there something else you want from me?"

He just looked at her, "It's just interesting that your name is Tenten and your address is also…ten-ten."

"And? My mother's name is Juujuu, also relating to two ten's, I bet you find that interesting to," she said a little sarcastically, "Are you going to leave now?"

Sasuke sent her his famous yet mysterious Uchiha smirk, "Maybe, maybe not." He watched as she turned around, a little exasperated, and spoke again, "You're different than what I thought you'd be."

Tenten was still facing her front door as she was just about to unlock it, his last statement seemed to echo throughout her brain, because she knew exactly what he meant. There used to be a time where people could expect her fiery attitude, but since the break-up, she's been nothing but quiet and broken. Still not facing him she whispered, "Aren't we all?" She finally did turn around and seeing that he was still there, hand in pockets and all, she decided to take a seat on the brick steps of the porch since he's obviously not going anywhere any time soon.

"We won our game tonight," he initiated as he took a few steps towards her.

She glanced up at him, the moon was just behind his head that sent a halo-effect around him, "Congratulations."

"Scored a touchdown."

Tenten sighed, "So why aren't you out celebrating with your friends?" _and bothering me instead?_

He took a seat next to her and leaned back, "What friends? I don't have friends."

She sent him a long look, "I may not be in the," she used air-quotation marks for, "in crowd," she paused, "but even I know that you are the most popular guy at school."

"That doesn't mean I have friends. I guess Naruto is a friend, but we argue more than anything else." Tenten really didn't know what to say to that, in all honesty, she wasn't even sure why she was sitting out here talking to Sasuke Uchiha, of all people, on a Saturday evening. Sasuke caught her eyes and held the gaze between them, "He's kind of a moron."

She fought a smile, "I really don't know him that well."

"Trust me, he's a moron."

She finally cracked and let a small smile slip over her lips at the absurdity of it all, "He can't be that bad."

Sasuke only nodded, "No, he's worse than you might think."

"So why stay friends with him?"

He shrugged, "Kind of nice to be around someone who isn't a genius all the time."

"Sounds like you have an inferiority complex."

"I have all kinds of complexes, but at least my name doesn't match my street address."

"Hey," she turned on him with a glare, "It was pure coincidence I'll have you know. My mom's job moved us here and they supplied the house, address included. It just happened that way."

He rose both hands up in surrender, "You are feisty," he commented, "No wait, see there you go being all sad again. What's up with you Double-Ten?"

"Nothing," she swiftly closed in on herself, "I better get inside, I'll bring the book to you when I'm finished."

He watched her finally leave him basically at her doorstep as she hurried inside. Not for the first time that night he wondered to himself what he was doing. Maybe it was because he could see the loneliness in her eyes, or the fact that he caught a glimpse of the bandages she had wrapped around her arms. He let out a small sigh, remembering that it wasn't too long ago when he felt just as lost. If it weren't for Naruto and Itachi reaching in and saving him when they did, who knows what would have happened by now. He surely wouldn't be standing here staring at some girl's door.

He just couldn't explain his internal reaction to her. It's not like he ever gave a shit about the stupid girls at his school. Whatever. Placing his hands back into his pocket he set out.

~*R*~

Ino immediately closed the door and pushed herself towards it and closed her eyes in an attempt to rid the image from her mind's landscape.

Nope. Wasn't working. The visual of Sakura…doing that…with Naruto…would always be with her. Ew.

Shaking off the sudden nausea she set out to once again try and find her missing boyfriend. She searched the other rooms, albeit a bit more cautiously this time around, but no such luck. Chouji was no where to be found upstairs. Heading back down she heard a lot of people clapping and shouting his name, as though rooting him on. Figures. And there he was. In the kitchen, chugging down the remnants of a bottle of scotch was her long lost lover.

"Now the pills!" someone yelled out to him.

She frowned as she watched from a distance as Chouji downed at least five assorted pills, chasing them down with alcohol of a different brand. What the hell, was he trying to kill himself!? But what could she do? Sure, there used to be a time when she was able to storm into a room and take charge of any given situation, but she was fearful of what the consequences might be if she tried to make him stop. Then again, if he kept this up, he was going to end up in the hospital. Or worse.

Not knowing what to do, she looked around to see what some options were. Most of her so-called friends were the ones encouraging him to do all of this. A sudden sense of horror overcame her, as an army of panic filled her chest. This was all her fault. She introduced these people to Chouji, her sweet, sweet Chouji. Ino was single-handedly ruining his life. Before her, he was a good student, a damn good friend, and sweet. So, so sweet. He was literally the kindest boy she had ever met. That was one of the reasons she fell for him, not simply because he was a quarterback. Yeah, she was captain of the cheerleaders, but it didn't mean she was _that_ vain.

Looking at him, looking at him surrounded by all these people, him being the life of the party, it all made her sick to her stomach. She did this to him. Kami, she really did deserve every hit, every slanderous word he'd ever thrown at her. She was such a horrible, horrible person.

A soft hand touched her shoulder, "Ino?"

The blonde turned her pretty blue eyes to stare at into concerned green ones, "Sakura."

The pink haired girl smiled at her old friend and rival, "Is everything okay?"

Not sure how to answer the question, she turned her gaze away from the inquisitive female.

"Ino," Sakura swallowed softly, "are you upset with me and Naruto?"

"No," she could at least answer that question, "what you two do is your business."

"Good, I just thought maybe you were mad that we…well, that we were in Chouji's room."

Ino laughed bitterly, "I'm just glad you were with your boyfriend, and not with Chouji."

"Psh, Ino-pig," Sakura said with a grin, "I wouldn't do that to you."

"Right," the blonde said sarcastically, "just like you wouldn't do that to Hinata."

Sakura's eyebrows immediately clenched together in pain and anger as she stared at Ino in disbelief.

Ino sighed, "Look, I'm sorry Sakura, but I can't deal with this right now."

"Whatever Ino, good luck with your boy," she said and then pointed towards him in the kitchen.

Chouji was between some unknown girl's legs, making out with her as she sat on his kitchen island. The hurt immediately shot into her gut. That same old familiar pain lancing throughout her heart as it always seemed to do. Sakura had already left her side even though she didn't notice. All she could see was Chouji with another girl. Again.

In a room full of people, all laughing and partying, she felt so alone here, and cold. Sore tears running unchecked down her face, she was unsure of how much more she could take.

And suddenly there he was, his increasingly familiar brown eyes so close to her own. He filled her watery vision just as a tearful hiccup escaped her. He grabbed her hand and led her out of the house, slowly yet surely. And she let him. She was so weak from fighting her own emotions, her own battles. Tired of being strong for her and Chouji, it was nice to feel like giving control over to someone else for a change.

Before she knew it, she was in a truck driving away from the party…away from Chouji. No words were spoken, it was simple silence at its best. And somehow, it was exactly what she needed, to get away from it all. For some reason, she trusted this boy driving her to Kami knows where. She trusted him more than she trusted herself.

Nothing was said as he led her into a strange home. She didn't fight him off when he led her up some stairs and into a foreign room. And when her back hit the mattress, she didn't mind it one bit.

Because she trusted Kankuro.


	8. Chapter 8

Ino woke up in a bed she had never been in before. It took a few minutes for her to fully remember why she laying wrapped up in a soft blanket in this sunny bedroom. Chouji. Of course it was Chouji. She saw him with yet another girl, kissing, fondling, she knew he must have had sex with that girl last night. So what did she do? Let some guy take her home and to his bed.

But…where was he? This was Kankuro's room yet there was no Kankuro.

Her mind was numb as she slowly got up and made the bed. Shock hit her in full force when she realized the same clothes she wore last night was still on her body. So then, Kankuro either re-dressed her, or they didn't have sex. She needed to find him, she knew she was in his house, there were a few pictures of him and his siblings and friends spread across the room. Kami this room let in a lot of morning light, the brightness of it all hurt her eyes. Or probably, it was only because her eyes were still sore from crying.

Softly, she went down the stairs. And what greeted her warmed her heart, just the slightest. There was Kankuro, snoring softly on the couch. Admittedly he looked damn good with his shirt off and a sheet wrapped around his waist. His hair was all kinds of messy, but he had a peaceful look on his still sleeping face. Ino was beginning to realize that Kankuro was turning out to be a pretty good friend. She couldn't help but let a small smile warm her comatose face as she looked at him.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Ino turned to see Kankuro's older twin by just a few minutes, "Temari, it's not what you think."

"That doesn't answer my question," she said, hands on hips.

The blonde sighed and she glanced at Kankuro before turning back to his sister, "Your brother brought me here to get away from the party, nothing happened."

Dark teal eyes narrowed at her suspiciously, "What I would like to know is why it seems you are always getting mixed up with my brother all of a sudden. First, he gets into a fight with your boyfriend. And now, here you are, coming down from his bedroom wearing exactly the same thing from last night."

Defensively, Ino stuck out her chin, "It's not like I asked him to fight Chouji, and I already told you that nothing happened between us," she looked at the moaning Kankuro and her eyes and voice softened, "he's a good friend."

Kankuro groaned some more before fully sitting up on the couch. He took one look at the two women and already felt a headache coming on. A headache that had absolutely nothing to do with the amount of alcohol he consumed the prior evening. "Temari, leave her alone."

Her angry eyes turned towards him, "I warned you to stay away from her. Chouji will come looking for you when he finds out his precious little cheerleader spent the night in your bed!"

He stood up to his full height and glared at her, "And I told you to stay out of my business!"

Gaara came from the kitchen to stand beside Temari with his arms crossed, "What is all this noise?"

Ino swallowed awkwardly and decided to get out of there as quickly as possible. She ran for the door and walked as fast as she could towards her home, which was at least a good twenty miles away. At this point, she didn't care, a nice long walk would be good to clear her head.

"Shit!" Kankuro sputtered out, looking for his previously discarded shirt that was lost somewhere in the sheet. Once he found it, he hurriedly put it on, not caring that it was on inside out and bolted towards the door.

"Where do you think you're going!" Temari seethed.

Kankuro stopped, turned, and glared at her, "That girl is going through some pretty rough shit, and you breathing down her neck just makes it worse. Back off Temari, I don't want to have to ask you again." With that said, he took off after her.

~*R*~

Tenten was wide awake for a Saturday morning, filling the day with awkward bursts of melodic tones from the piano. She spent the rest of her evening last night reading over the book, eager to finish it as quickly as possible. This morning, she went to pick it up and begin where she left off, but ended up noticing her notebook and went through it instead. Hinata wasn't kidding when she said she wrote down extra lyrics. The words they…intrigued her. She really, really liked what she was seeing. The tune they had practiced together suddenly filled her mind, and she had to hear it.

Armed with the notebook in hand, Tenten made her way to her father's piano. After taking a deep breath, her hands started to play out the lyrics as she imagined them being sung. She spent a good hour going through the material and tune in her head over and over again. It was a little exciting to be playing something she helped create, instead of playing a song someone else wrote. This was hers, well, hers and Hinata's.

Tenten felt her mother quietly sit beside her on the little bench and she stopped playing to look at her.

Juujuu had a few unshed tears gathered in her eyes and said to her daughter, "Please don't stop Tenten, its beautiful."

Tenten wanted to smile, she could feel the yearning to pull the corner of her mouth up. But she couldn't manage it, it didn't feel right. The least she could do though, was continue to play per her mother's request. The mother and daughter duo sat there on that bench, somehow being reconnected after all this time and tragedy. Growing closer with every stroke Tenten made on that old piano. And for the first time in a long while, Tenten didn't feel the need to cut. That burning tendency faded, and there was just the two of them.

A knock came to the door and her mother rose to answer the door. Tenten continued playing, barely noticing the noise at the door. She had become lost in the music she was creating.

Neji gave a small nod to the little woman he had known most of his life as she answered the door.

A pleasant smile came over Juujuu's face as she saw the tall, stoic boy at her doorstep, "Neji, it is so good to see you. Please, come in."

He stepped through the entryway and was immediately frozen still as he heard the familiar sound. His quick, calculating eyes saw his old friend playing the piano. He knew she stopped playing after her father's death. It was good to see this class project doing some good for her.

"It has been so long since I've seen that look on her face," Juujuu sighed. All he could do was nod, his eyes never leaving the fluid movements of Tenten. Juujuu smiled to herself, "Can I offer you some tea and biscuits?"

"That would be nice, thank you."

As the older woman smiled again at him and quietly left to get the snacks. Neji stood still for a few moments, until finally taking a few steps in her direction. Tenten's mother was right, it had been a long time since Tenten looked so…at peace with her self. Perhaps there wasn't that big of a concern after all.

They truly were old friends. They had met each other in a martial arts class when they were merely five. She wasn't like the other girls, she didn't care who his family was, or what he looked like. She simply wanted his friendship. It took a while, years even, but it did happen. He let her into his circle. Here they were, years later, and they barely even spoke to each other. He was angry with himself for allowing her to suffer alone like this unnecessarily. First the death of her father, a feeling he knew all too well, and then Lee's betrayal.

When Juujuu returned with the promised tea and snacks, it had caught Tenten's attention. Especially when her mom lay the items on the sturdy table with her friend Neji standing right next to it. Her widened eyes quickly met his and she could see his intentions. Neji was observant if anything, he knew something was wrong and he wanted her to answer. She gulped and pulled her sleeved down further over her hands.

"N-Neji, what are you doing here?" she asked in a light voice.

He shrugged nonchalantly and told her in a firm, friendly voice, "To catch up, it's been a while since we've hung out together."

"I'll leave you two be, I'll be out in the garden if you need anything," her mother spoke up.

"Thank you for the treats," Neji replied to her in kind.

She patted his arm on her way out.

Tenten turned to fully face him as her mother left, but her eyes didn't quite meet his. A few minutes had passed in silence before he took a few necessary steps forward and seated himself in a chair, moving it slightly in her direction. The familiar chamadarie between them was lost, to be replaced by awkward tension.

Finally, he sighed and leaned forward a little, hoping to catch her eyes, "I'm sorry Tenten."

That got her attention, and her eyes did snap up to his, "What do you have to be sorry about?"

"For not being there for you, like you were when I lost my father. For not beating the hell out of Lee when he broke your heart," he said in a calm voice, "I'm sorry for neglecting you and our friendship."

_Damn him_, Tenten thought as sudden and raw tears rushed to her eyes. It took everything in her to not let a single drip of moisture fall between them. After taking a few steady breaths, she looked back at him, "Neji, you don't need to apologize to me. I understand that you are involved in many things, you don't have to always protect me."

"Someone needs to," he said and let the silence continue between them for another minute. "I don't want to be that same boy from my childhood. Where I push everyone I care about away from me because I am too stubborn to comprehend. And I know you can take of yourself Tenten, that's not what I'm saying. However, I get the feeling that you aren't"

She sighed and took her time to respond, "I'm not sure what you want me to say."

He stood up and moved to sit beside her, looking her in the eyes as he spoke, "You are strong Tenten, one of the strongest I have ever met. But you don't have to do this alone."

"Neji," her eyes looked at him with confusion, "What are you saying here?"

He swallowed, just the slightest, "I didn't come here with this intention," he admitted, "but I would like it if you allowed me to take you out."

Tenten's gaze widened in amazed astonishment, "You mean, as a…as a date?"

Neji sent her his infamous smirk, and a hand came up to caress her too pale cheek, "I care for you Tenten, if it's too soon, I understand."

She was shocked to her core, sure she had a huge crush on him in her pre-teen years, but…then Lee happened and she removed all those childish feelings towards him. They were friends, plain and simple. But, here he was. Asking her out, telling her how much he cared about her. A warmth spread throughout her chest in what she thought might be the beginnings of hope in a belief that she wasn't as revolting as she felt.

"Neji, I care for you too," she admitted, "but I'm not sure if it's just friendship that I feel, or...more. I do know that I don't want to lose that."

"Honestly, I'm not too sure of that either," he told her, "but it feels good to be here with you. I promise you that we will never lose our friendship Tenten, it means too much to me as well."

She looked at him. It did feel good to have him touching her face, to have his familiar eyes looking into her with honesty. She didn't feel so alone with him here, right in front of her. It was worth a try, wasn't it? He was worth taking a chance. She hurt, Kami how her heart still bled with the pain Lee caused her. But it was comforting to know that Neji recognized it and acknowledged it. That he cared for her enough that he wanted to see if there was more between them.

"Alright," she told him, "I'm willing to see what happens."

He stood then, a small smirk on his face. "I'll pick you up tomorrow evening at six. I must go now though, I have a scheduled study session this afternoon that I need to prepare for."

Standing as well, she walked with him to the door. It was a bit…awkward, but it made her feel reassured when he leaned down and gave a bare kiss to her temple. Watching him as he walked down her porch steps and all the way into his car she couldn't help but admire and appreciate him. Regardless of how out of the blue it was, because if anything, she was feeling a whole lot better this morning than she had in a long, long time.

~*R*~

"I'm dying to catch my breath. Oh why don't I ever learn? I've lost all my trust though I've surely tried, to turn it around," Hinata's voice was soft as she went over some old lyrics she had just written down for a song she's been working on. "Can you still see, the heart of me? All my agony fades away, when you hold me in your embrace."

"Hm," she whispered to herself, making a little note that she quite liked the change she made in the last phrase. Suddenly she set the paper down and leaned back on her bed, not really feeling like working on the list. She couldn't stop thinking about what Itachi had revealed to her about Naruto fighting Sasuke.

When did that happen? And why?

Weren't they best friends? It didn't make any sense at all. It really didn't make sense that she couldn't stop thinking about it. It was a little frustrating to think that it may have happened the other day when Naruto called out to her. They weren't fighting because of her…were they?

Hinata frowned at the thought, just as she wondered what Naruto wanted in the first place. After everything was said and done, she cursed her heart for still hurting. She still liked him, after all this time, she still wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. She wanted to, but she couldn't. He'd slept with Sakura while still dating her, it was something she just couldn't get over. And Sakura, Hinata just didn't understand the pink haired girl's animosity towards her. She really thought they were friends, but it came out to be that they weren't close at all.

Pulling herself out of bed, she made her way down the long hallway and down the steps into the foyer. The estate was quiet, as it always was. It seemed Neji was the only family she had that would actually talk to her. Her father and sister almost seemed like phantom ghosts to her.

After slipping on her favorite purple jacket, she decided a walk for some fresh air would help to clear her head. Almost an hour later found her walking along the edge of Konoha's largest river bank. She loved being around water, it was so soothing and calmed her soul. The water was always a constant, moving fixture. Naruto used to remind her of a river, never able to stay still in one spot, always moving along. She supposed that even held true to now, as he had certainly moved on from her.

She was quickly coming upon a more sandy bank where there were a few families stationed there practicing their fishing skills. Hinata walked to a concrete bench and took a small rest before she would turn back to go home. It was a beautiful day out, only a few clouds moving slowly over everyone above.

This was such a nice feeling. To have the breeze blowing through her hair, with the sun shining down on her, and the water making its course to the ocean before her very eyes. This was relaxation, and she needed it. It was tiring to worry about schoolwork all the time. She wasn't sure this was where she was headed to when she set out for her walk, but this was the best place she could think to be right now.

Immediately she noticed the shadow that fell next to her, and her eyes quickly took in sight of the tall, dark, and handsome man who was making it a habit to share a bench with her.

His dark eyes soon shifted to hers, no words being uttered between them.

It was startling. She was actually…comfortable with him next to her. Perhaps it was because he seemed to be just as quiet as her, or maybe it was because he had yet to ridicule and criticize her like she was used to so many others doing. So needless to say, she was content with just sitting here, next to Itachi Uchiha, in silence. If only for this moment in time, they could share in the serene essence nature provided.

Several minutes had passed before one of them broke the silence, and strangely enough, it was Hinata that spoke, "N-nice day, is-isn't it?"

His shadowed eyes caught hers for a moment before he said in response, "It will rain soon."

Hinata frowned and noticed that the clouds were getting darker and thicker. "I better g-get going then."

"I have something for you," he said before she could stand.

Hinata turned her head to fully face him and watched as he pulled a few folded pages from his pocket and handed it to her. She stared at him before slowly opening it and reading what was inside.

"Just a few scale combinations," he told her and then faced her as well, "I overheard you trying out a few melodies."

She didn't smile, she full out grinned. Because even with just her gazing over the material he provided she could tell it was genius. Then the blush absolutely consumed her face, she couldn't believe…he went through the trouble to give her this. But how…how did he know she was going to be here?

He could see the question in her eyes before she could ask, "Sasuke and I come here every weekend," he nodded slightly in his brother's direction, who was busy on his phone. He didn't say why they came here. Didn't explain that this is the spot where they sent memorial flowers down the river in honor of their fallen parents.

Hinata nodded and a fat drop of rain managed to fall right on her nose. With a giggle she wiped it off and quickly folded the papers. "I better go, it's a long walk home," she managed to stare at him again, blush and all, "Itachi…thank you, thank you so much for this."

Soon enough he was right by her side and grabbed her forearm lightly, "We can take you home," he told her in his ever calm voice.

Her eyes searched his and she nodded her acceptance. "Are you sure it wouldn't be a problem?"

Itachi turned and called out, "Sasuke, we are leaving." With a nod from his brother, Itachi began to lead her to his car.

Hinata wondered through the silence of this enchanting Sunday afternoon. There were so many questions she wanted to ask both of them. Like why did Sasuke fight against his best friend? Why did Itachi, a man she barely knew, gift her with personal written music? Why did she feel so comfortable in the silence of the two Uchiha brothers like this? And mostly, why did Itachi never ask where she lived yet drove precisely to her home?

Yes, it truly had been a relaxing, almost delightful afternoon. Which was good considering what the following week had coming for her.


	9. Chapter 9

It had been a long time since she'd stepped foot into this house. It was huge, that was for sure, the biggest house she's ever been in. Kami, she used to come here all the time with Hinata. She remembered pretending she was a princess walking up and down the grand staircase in the foyer. Playing dress-up with Hinata's beautiful gowns for events she'd had to attend over the years, do each other's make-up. To be honest, Sakura kind of missed those days of innocence.

But now, she was here for another reason altogether, one that had nothing to do with Hinata.

Nope, now she was following another Hyuuga through the estate. Her and Neji had previously agreed that they would meet up here to go over their joint project together. He completely insisted on it being at the Hyuuga's home, and she had to agree once he told her of his ridiculously busy schedule. Seriously, how he can stay sane was way beyond her. Besides, it wasn't as if they used to be sort of friendly to each other, so it shouldn't be all that bad.

"After you," he said in his always firm yet polite voice.

Neji had opened a door for her and allowed her first entrance, and the sight that greeted her was surprising. It was obviously his bedroom. There was a twin-sized bed pressed against a wall near a window, the blanket was a dark grey and was neatly tidied. He had a large desk with a laptop already fired up and ready to go, along with two chairs just waiting for them. The room overall was bright and seemed airy, if a bit bare. There were just a few pictures here and there along with a couple martial arts trophies he's won in competitions. In all the times she's come here before to be with Hinata, she'd never been in his room before. She knew why he lived here, under his uncle's roof, but she just seemed to always avoid him before. Sure, it was one thing to see him around, she'd done that thousands of times before. But it was a whole other when he was the sole companion for any length of time.

Sakura remembered Hinata being frightened silly of her older cousin for the longest time. Hell, she didn't know why and couldn't remember exactly what happened to make things change between the two cousins. Hinata wasn't always forth coming with things that happened to her regarding other Hyuuga's. She may be a blushing, stuttering, clumsy and shy girl, but she was loyal.

Neji followed her inside and left the door open to the cool hallway, "I only have two and a half hours so we should get started."

She nodded and took a seat in one of the chairs, pulling out her notebook to show him some of the ideas she had for the project, "Here you can look this over and see if you like any of these ideas."

He nodded and looked over the neatly scripted list of random ideas. A lot of them were based on genetics, but he had a feeling that topic was going to be overdone by their classmates. He wanted something different, something difficult to stand out and earn the highest honor. Ah, there. There was a slight pull to the corner of his lip as he looked up from the notebook to catch her eye, "This one."

Sakura glanced at the last one on her list and smiled to herself, she liked that one too. "Biowarfare it is then. So, how do you want to go about it?"

They spent the next hour going over things and conversation went surprisingly well. Neji was a genius, there was no doubting that. And Sakura was a bright girl all on her own, there was a reason why she was taking a Senior's honors class. Hard work, dedication, natural intelligence, she held all these qualities within her. And it was nice, this time with Neji. A guy she barely talked to. A guy who's cousin was her apparent mortal enemy. She was a bit surprised that he wasn't being downright mean to her.

After all, she kind of deserved it. Maybe she should talk to Hinata. No, not yet. Sakura didn't quite understand why she held so much animosity towards her, so why talk to her about it if she wasn't ready?

Will she ever be?

~*R*~

"I kissed Kiba."

There it was, the confession, bluntly between them. It was lunchtime on Monday and the cafeteria was crowded with laughing, gossiping teens. Temari could barely stand the guilt, but she was never one to shy away from the truth. So she sought out her boyfriend when he did an amazing job of ignoring her in their class together that morning. After everything they'd been through together, she honestly felt that they could handle this little…transgression of hers. Besides, it wasn't like it meant anything. But still, it did happen. And it needed to be addressed. She needed the air between her and Shikamaru to be clear.

"I know, I saw," he admitted with a grunt and matching frown.

"You know it didn't mean anything Shikamaru," she said firmly albeit a little surprised that he had seen, "Not that it's a good excuse, but I was tipsy and pissed off that you; once again, fell asleep on me. Am I really that boring?"

He glared at her, it was a look that kind of scared her, and his rough voice did nothing to soothe her, "Don't turn this around on me Temari. I wasn't sleeping, I had a headache from the troublesome music blasting in my ear. Next thing I know, my girlfriend is making out with another guy right in front of me."

She dragged out a sigh, "I'm sorry," and she was. There really wasn't much more she could say to make him see that it didn't mean anything.

"Fine."

"Fine?" she narrowed her fierce tealy gaze, "Fine? That's all you have to say?"

"What do you want Temari? You apologized and I can accept that. You want us to drop it and so we will, consider it dropped."

She frowned at him, "Okay, what is your problem? I told you it didn't mean anythi…"

"…You've never kissed me like that," he whispered interruptedly and quickly stood and walked away from her.

What!? Temari seethed at what he just said to her! After all that he's put her through during their relationship, she messes up once and he holds it over her head!? Oh no, she didn't think so.

"Shikamaru!" she shouted, and enjoyed the reaction it caused. Most of the people in the cafeteria went still, anxiously waiting for what was going to happen next. As for Shikamaru himself, well. He cringed at her loud voice, but stopped walking despite himself. She stalked up to him, whirled him around to face her and launched herself at him.

She put everything she had into this kiss. All the feelings she's ever had for him, the good and the bad. Everything was poured into this one moment, this moment to prove to him that he was the only guy in her eyes. Temari seemingly attacked him with a fierce hunger, her mouth pressed hard against his own. They've probably shared a thousand kisses before, but he was right, nothing like this. Nothing so…forced.

And when she pulled away and saw that look in his eyes, felt what she felt inside, it was her who walked away. And no, she didn't dare look back. She was afraid to.

~*R*~

She could hear him behind her, huffing with the extra effort he was putting into catching up with her. If he was having this big of a problem merely keeping up with her pace, then how the hell was he supposed to make any difference on the field? Ino rolled her pretty eyes at the thought and further hurried her pace. She really didn't want to face him right now. Not now, not after knowing what he's done behind her back. Not after realizing all his problems were because of her. She ruined his life, damaged him beyond repair. He was never going to change.

"Ino," his voice was heavy with his difficult in breathing. It was the same sound he used in bed. "Ino, wait up." She shook her head once, and Chouji caught the ripple motion her blonde mane made at the action. "Stop, damn it."

She did stop, but only after he finally caught her wrist in his hard grip.

"Where did you disappear off to Saturday night?" he demanded.

People in the hallway were looking at them, their curious gazes eager for yet another altercation this fine day. Ino could barely stand it. She heard all about the love-fest between Temari and Shikamaru, how they passionately kissed each other in the middle of lunch. And frankly, Ino didn't want to hear anything about it. Temari and Shikamaru had it easy, they loved each other and didn't mind showing it. "I got upset and left," she almost scoffed at herself.

"Why didn't you come talk to me about it, huh?" His grip tightened painfully on her wrist as he took a step toward her, "Rumor has it that you left with that piece of Sabaku shit, Kankuro," he leaned in her face and said softly, "it's not true, is it?"

"So you're not going to ask me what I was upset about?" the hurt was starting to break through into her voice.

He rolled his eyes at her, but lessened the grip on her wrist and took a step back to look her over, "So what was it? I'm waiting."

Her eyes quickly looked around to everyone listening in around them, "Not here," she told him.

At that he smirked down at her, "I did what you asked and questioned why you were upset, and now you won't tell me? Come on Ino, don't be stupid."

But she was stupid. So very stupid. "I said not here," and she pointedly looked at everyone watching, hoping he would get the hint.

"I said tell me what's wrong!" he yelled and then pushed her into some lockers awkwardly.

"Ino!" came a gasped voice. And soon, a tiny body that normally no one ever took notice of was kneeling down in front of the fallen blonde. The girl cautiously looked over her shoulder to see if Chouji would continue his assault before turning back to Ino. "Are you alright," she whispered in her soft voice.

When Chouji frowned and narrowed his eyes at the interruption, he took a step forward before a new voice came in, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Hinata paid no mind to what was going on behind her. Ino was sobbing and holding her hand to her shoulder. Quietly she helped the girl stand and quickly ushered her down the hall and out of sight. Neji flickered his glance towards his younger cousin before returning his threatening gaze back to the man who dared to affront Hinata.

"Back off Hyuuga, this has nothing to do with you," Chouji told him.

The atmosphere was tense as Sasuke was seen making his way towards them too, and anyone could tell that he was not happy. Not in the least. The hallway was getting more and more crowded, hoping to see another fight. The last time anyone saw Neji get this pissed was when he was found beating the living hell out of Naruto for cheating on his cousin. Oh, that was a sight to see. So everyone knew that when Neji got involved, someone was going to get hurt. And everyone there also knew that Sasuke was no stranger to violence. He just fought his own best friend last week!

"The minute you took a step in Hinata's direction, you made it my business," the elder Hyuuga brought himself within a foot of the threat and spoke in a quiet tone, "You will not go near her again, do you understand?"

"Yeah," added in Sasuke, arms crossed and a sour look on his face, "What kind of asshole hits a girl anyway?"

Chouji looked between the two, "I didn't hit either one of them so just go…"

Neji leaned in further with his narrowed gaze, his face a perfect reflection of calm, but his eyes promised retribution, "Do you understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Choiji waved him off, trying to not let it show that he was a bit frightened by the looming boy in front of him. He'd been in fights before, it was nothing new, but he and Neji really never had any beef before. "Don't touch the princess." And as soon as the words were out of his mouth he regretted it. Before he even realized what was happening, Neji had his hand wrapped around his throat against the very lockers he shoved Ino into. His eyes widened as he found he couldn't breathe under the nasty grip on his throat. Immediately his hands raised to try and pry his off, but it was to no use.

Neji tilted his head slightly, eyeing the scum that dared to threaten his family, "I will not see you talking to her, I will not hear about you looking at her. Because if I do…" Neji allowed the sentence to fall where it lay. And with a disgusted look on his face, he pushed the overweight quarterback to the ground and walked off in the direction Hinata went with the distraught Ino.

Sasuke smirked as he watched Neji Hyuuga scare the living shit out of Chouji. This wasn't the first time that the Akimichi attacked Ino. He heard all about the fight between him and some of the other football players that happened right after he left with Itachi. He wasn't all that friendly with Ino, hell he really couldn't stand her until she started dating Chouji. Before then she was always pining for him in the most annoying way. Between her and Sakura…he shuddered. That was all in the past now. And no, he wasn't friendly with Ino, but he had been friends with Hinata. And either way, a man doesn't go around hitting a girl. So it didn't matter that Hinata was involved or not, Sasuke wanted to make sure that Chouji was clear that he wouldn't put up with him either if he saw something like this again.

With a rather scary looking smirk on his face, he kneeled down to his own teammate. He waited a few moments before saying quietly, "You're pathetic."

"What do you care Uchiha!?" Chouji yelled out, his voice sore from Neji's abuse, "get the hell out of my face!"

Sasuke merely shook his head, "Look at your self, cowering on the floor like a baby. Better prepare yourself for practice Chouji, no one will have your back. You'll be a sitting target." And with his piece done, he simply walked away and onto his next class. He wasn't talking to Naruto yet, but now was a good time as any to be friends again.


	10. Chapter 10

Hinata sighed quietly to herself as she finished another round of vocal routines to warm-up. She really, really didn't want to sing. She wanted the piano. But of course, her opinion was pushed to the background of everyone else and was simply told that she would be the one to sing. She was used to it, used to it enough that it rarely bothered her. If it made everyone else happy, then she could settle for it. But this? Singing? Maybe it was okay to sing in front of a couple people, but what happens if she freezes up when they perform in front of everyone else? Perhaps they didn't realize just exactly _how_ shy she truly was.

Maybe it would all work out, maybe she was feeling the anxiety over nothing. After all, she was managing just fine the more she practiced with the others. The more time passed, the more comfortable she was becoming in the role.

"We ready?" Temari asked in a firm voice, everyone there could tell that something was wrong, but no one asked. It was Temari and just about everyone in the school was used to her temper tantrums.

Ino merely nodded as she placed her violin in position. Any and all fight had left her after what happened earlier with Chouji. She was scared to look Hinata in the eye, scared that the pale-eyed girl would say something. Even though she was sure they all knew about what happened. And Temari already hated her for Kankuro helping her out. Poor Kankuro, he was pretty sweet to her, and she felt bad because she knew he probably held a small amount of feelings for her. Something she could never return. Not while she held this guilt in her heart for being solely responsible of Chouji's destruction. It was most definitely a sobering feeling.

As for Tenten, she merely went to sit behind the piano. She previously made herself busy with going over some of the lyric changes Hinata made from their last solo practice together. That and she was…kind of okay lately. Not happy by any means, but…okay. She never would have thought that she would actually find herself in a relationship with Neji. Kami she crushed on him hard for a long time, so hard he seemed like an unreachable dream. And when she finally opened her eyes he turned into one of her best friends. Then Lee happened. Damn it, no. She would not think about him. Because when she thought about Lee, the pain came soon after. And it probably didn't help that she hasn't cut since Neji basically asked her out. There wasn't a reason too. She was too numb to feel anything. It was as though Neji neutralized the constant pain she felt inside.

Sakura was…Sakura was confused. "Yeah, let's start already, we've wasted enough time warming up," very, very confused. And angry. And hurt. But most of all, she was confused. Despite the party over the weekend, the biggest highlight was that weird afternoon she had with Neji Hyuuga. All her other troubles just kind of melted away as they talked out their plan of action for their project, it was like she was able to get away from everything. Listening to his calm yet confident voice drone on about phages and securing laboratory time was soothing compared to Naruto's earsplitting volume. She cast a side-long glance towards Hinata, only to feel her ire rise even more. Damn that girl. Sure, it was awkward being around Neji this weekend. But being around Hinata was suffocating. She hated her. No matter what Sakura did, Hinata was always the first thing on Naruto's mind. It wasn't fair. And today only proved it!

Sasuke and Naruto had apparently made up sometime after lunch, as they walked towards her locker together and talking in quiet tones. When she asked what was up, Naruto just looked at her and she could see the pain in his eyes. Finally Sasuke told her what happened with Neji and Chouji earlier and it all made sense. He was worried, he was worried over his damned ex girlfriend! When was _Sakura_ going to come first!?

"I thought you were ready?" Temari asked moodily, "Come on Sakura, you just missed you cue! Pay attention."

The pink-haired girl nodded distractedly, "Let's start from the top again."

Ino started out with a long, melancholy sound from the violin. Then Tenten picked up a few seconds later to softly start in with key sounds on the piano. Hinata started in on the lyrics with, "Sparkling angel, I believed. You were my savior in my time of need. Blinded by faith, I couldn't hear. All the whispers, the warning so clear. I see the angels, I'll lead them to your door. There's no escape now, no mercy no more. No remorse because I still remember," here is where Temari and Sakura started in with the drums and guitar, "The smile when you tore me apart."

They went on and re-started a few times. Temari and Sakura were really struggling to match each other's speed. Ino's playing on the violin just came across as sad. Tenten was doing fairly well and even Hinata was gaining more confidence each time they went over it, even though her passion didn't match the intensity of the lyrics. As more time passed it was pretty obvious that Temari and Sakura were getting really frustrated with each other. But the biggest surprise came before they could start yelling at one another.

It was Ino. The one who actually wrote down most of the lyrics for the song they were trying to get right. Yes, right in the middle of the first couple lyrics she started to sob. Each of the girls were shocked at the sound and the room went instantly silent. Another sob, then two more. And in a flash, the beautiful blonde girl bolted out of the room, carelessly dropping her instrument in the process.

The remaining girls eyed each other as though looking for an explanation, even though two of them knew what had happened. Sakura refused to meet Hinata's eyes.

The shy girl spoke up, "I-I I'll be right back." And then she too bolted out of the door.

Sakura scoffed, of course Hinata would go after her and be the savior. Even though Ino was really _her_ friend, "I guess we're done here."

"Guess so, and hey Sakura, why don't you work a little extra on your part, you were really off today," Temari suggested. Sakura merely rolled her eyes and gathered up her things to leave.

With Hinata, she had a good idea where Ino went off to. As she rounded the corner she caught just the sight of Ino's blonde ponytail as she went through another set of doors. Hinata slowed her steps to a walking pace, building up her own strength to try and be there for Ino. She wasn't sure why, she just knew that Ino needed someone who would listen. Ino's sobs were just so eerily heart-breaking.

As she neared the heavy doors she could hear Ino crying as quietly as possible. It was late and most of the students and faculty were already gone, so she doubted anyone else would be here. With a firm push, she opened the doors and stepped foot into the faded blue walls of the girls changing room for gym. Ino was curled up in the corner of the room, luckily no one else was there. She took a few cautious steps towards the blonde.

"Just go away Hinata," Ino whispered hotly through her tears.

Hinata simply sighed and seated herself close the other girl, "It's okay to cry Ino."

The girl cried harder into her own arms, pulling into herself as tightly as possible. Hinata sat there beside her for a few minutes, saying nothing, just listening to Ino's broken cries. With everything that Naruto and Sakura put her through, cheating on her and breaking her heart, at least she could honestly say she was never physically abused.

It took a while, several minutes in fact, but eventually the usually bright and happy Ino calmed down and chanced a glance up towards the girl next to her, "H-Hinata, promise me you won't say anything. Please."

The Hyuuga girl smiled softly, "I p-promise."

Ino nodded in self-reassurance, "I'm sorry I just," she cleared her groggy throat, "I don't know what came over me."

"Ino you've," she hesitated just the slightest, "you've b-been through a lot today."

The blonde stilled her movement for a bit, "Hinata um," what could she say to her? It wasn't a big secret anymore. Not after he hit her that day after practice, everyone in school knew about it. And it will be even worse after today when he threw her into the lockers. What could she say? Kami, she could already see everyone's sympathizing looks.

"I-it's n-not my place," Hinata told her in a quiet voice, "but," she gulped nervously, "I am worried for you."

"You don't have to worry, everything will be okay, it always is."

Denial. They sat there quiet for a little bit as the denial of her statement remained out in the open. Both lost in their own thoughts. Ino herself wasn't sure what else she could do to keep up with it all. Everything was breaking down around her, and it was all her fault. Hinata wondered if Ino was just telling herself it was going to be okay. They were friends; yes, but not close. They barely talked to each other outside of class or these music practices. Hinata didn't know what she should do.

"Really Hinata, he doesn't mean it." There was a part of her that believed that to be true too. There was also a small part inside her that wanted to talk to Hinata, to tell her everything, all her problems.

Hinata's eyes snapped towards Ino's in disbelief, "He m-may not mean it, but that d-doesn't m-make it right."

Ino allowed another moment of silence to stretch between them before replying back quietly, almost in a whispered tone, "It's my fault."

Shaking her head once in denial, Hinata turned herself towards her friend and placed a hand to her shoulder, "No, it's not."

"But it is," light blue eyes filled with pain before continuing on, "he wouldn't," she shuddered, "he wouldn't be like this if it weren't for me."

"Ino," she whispered, "why do you believe that?"

"Because," she sobbed again, not being able to stop it in time, "I introduced him to it all Hinata, I did. Don't you see? I made him popular just by being with him. He used to never drink, or pop pills, or…or sleep around. I did this to him."

She was shocked, but in the end Hinata could see where Ino could think like that. So she took a moment to think on how to respond before settling for the honest truth of it all, "You didn't force h-him into anything. He made his own decisions."

Immediately Ino shook her head no, "You don't understand, sure you dated Naruto for a while, but you still weren't that popular. You don't know what it's like to party like we do. I love him Hinata, we deserve each other."

It was the truth and it stung a little, but she came back with, "You're right about that," she paused, "but you're wrong about one-one thing. You deserve better and so does he. I d-don't mean that in a bad way. Just th-that you two maybe aren't good for each other."

Ino laughed once bitterly, "You think?" She then looked around, as if to make sure they were truly alone before admitting in a quiet voice, "I tried to end it you know, several times in fact. The first time it happened was the worst. He apologized and I could tell he meant it, he doesn't really mean to hurt me. Then he did it again, and then again. And again and again. And not just that, but he's cheated on me I don't even know how many times. But what do I do Hinata? I love him so much it hurts. I hate it that I am the one who changed him. So if you think about it, I've hurt him just as much as he's hurt me." Ino paused to catch her breath, she didn't really mean to say all of these things, but it felt so good to talk to someone. "I know we're not good for each other. I really do. But I love him, it's as simple as that. I can't escape how I feel about him and he knows it."

Poor Ino, she's been through so much, and still hangs on for the one she loves. She's had to twist the truth to make it into something she could fathom was possible and fix. "Ino, I'm sorry but," Hinata wasn't sure how the blonde was going to react but it needed to be said here, "but it's going to get wor-worse. If this has been going on for as long as you say then it already has gotten worse. What if he hits you one too many times, or what if he takes one too many pills?"

"I know," she cried out, her eyes now swollen with tears, "I know but I can't stop it. I tried to break up with him just last week but here I am. Hurt again, crying again. And I know he's sorry. But I know he'll just do it again. Kami and when he gets so angry and looks at me…sometimes I wonder if this is it, you know? Is this when it ends?"

Hinata shook her head and pulled her into her arms, "You're strong Ino, one of the strongest people I know. But you both need to be away from-from each other, for both of your sakes." Ino continued to cry her tears out. Hinata was right, she knew that. She listened to Hinata add, "He needs you too, Ino. Because you do love each other so much, you might be the only one that can help him."

Before she realized it, Ino was nodding at what needed to be done. One more time, she will try to break it off one more time. Hinata was probably right about that too, she was the only one that could save Chouji from what he's become. She helped to mold and create him, she will have to be the one to save him. She never really thought of it like that before. "Hinata um…"

"…I promised you, don't worry. But I'll be here for you if you need help."

"Hinata," she smiled sadly, "thank you."

~*R*~

"How was the party loser?"

Naruto glared at his best friend, "Awesome. Why don't you ever go those things anyway?"

Sasuke just shrugged, "What's the point?"

"Uh," Naruto started, "the point is to get drunk with your friends and sneak off with your girlfriend."

"Ew, I really don't want to hear about your latest sexcapade with Sakura."

"Right, guess I should thank you for always turning her down. She finally realized I was the better choice all along."

The Uchiha scoffed, "I'm not even going to justify that with an intelligent response."

"Don't hate," the blonde teased. They were playing video games in Naruto's room, the age old way of patching things up with each other. You know, the typical guy way, by blowing each up on-screen. When Sasuke brutally took him out with a head-shot Naruto glanced his way, "Hey look, I'm sorry about the other day."

"You mean when you sucker-punched me?" Was it just him, or did Naruto's room smell like dirty socks and leftover ramen? He glanced around…it looked like it smelled. Gross. From now on he will insist on game night at his place. He didn't give two shits what Itachi had to say about it.

"Yeah, hee hee," he stalled, "Sasuke uh, do you like Hinata or something?"

He was quiet for a few minutes, enjoying blowing the loud boy to smithereens. Instead of answering him, he finally asked a question of his own, "What did you want with her?"

Naruto let out a tired sigh and ran his hands through his blonde locks, "Nothing. Everything. I still want to be her friend."

Sasuke stared at him, "It was wrong what you did to her."

Accepting that, Naruto nodded. After all he could still feel every one of Neji's punches, "I know, and she deserved better. I see her and…I want to see her smile again so bad. I've apologized, but I know she doesn't think I mean it, "he sighed again, "I love Sakura."

He snorted at his friend, "Sounds like you're trying to convince yourself of that."

"No, I do. I love her. That I'm sure of. I mean come on bastard, a lifetime of pining for her doesn't just fade away overnight."

"And Hinata? What about her?"

"…I don't know."

"Might want to get it figured out loser, you've hurt her enough as it is. You talking to her and being all happy is like throwing it all back in her face."

"You know, you never did answer my question, why do you care when it comes to Hinata?"

Sasuke just turned his thoughts inwards. He wasn't into Hinata like that, but they had been friends. He had once considered her more of a friend; other than Naruto of course, than anyone else in school. She was just genuine; she wasn't out for popularity or anything like that. Plus she never did follow him around like an annoying puppy with a stupid crush. Heh, once upon a time it was Naruto who showed him the error of his ways. Guess now it was Sasuke's turn to show Naruto that he needed to get his shit together before he lost both of them.


	11. Chapter 11

Hinata sighed quietly to herself as she finished another round of vocal routines to warm-up. She really, really didn't want to sing. She wanted the piano. But of course, her opinion was pushed to the background of everyone else and was simply told that she would be the one to sing. She was used to it, used to it enough that it rarely bothered her. If it made everyone else happy, then she could settle for it. But this? Singing? Maybe it was okay to sing in front of a couple people, but what happens if she freezes up when they perform in front of everyone else? Perhaps they didn't realize just exactly _how_ shy she truly was.

Maybe it would all work out, maybe she was feeling the anxiety over nothing. After all, she was managing just fine the more she practiced with the others. The more time passed, the more comfortable she was becoming in the role.

"We ready?" Temari asked in a firm voice, everyone there could tell that something was wrong, but no one asked. It was Temari and just about everyone in the school was used to her temper tantrums.

Ino merely nodded as she placed her violin in position. Any and all fight had left her after what happened earlier with Chouji. She was scared to look Hinata in the eye, scared that the pale-eyed girl would say something. Even though she was sure they all knew about what happened. And Temari already hated her for Kankuro helping her out. Poor Kankuro, he was pretty sweet to her, and she felt bad because she knew he probably held a small amount of feelings for her. Something she could never return. Not while she held this guilt in her heart for being solely responsible of Chouji's destruction. It was most definitely a sobering feeling.

As for Tenten, she merely went to sit behind the piano. She previously made herself busy with going over some of the lyric changes Hinata made from their last solo practice together. That and she was…kind of okay lately. Not happy by any means, but…okay. She never would have thought that she would actually find herself in a relationship with Neji. Kami she crushed on him hard for a long time, so hard he seemed like an unreachable dream. And when she finally opened her eyes he turned into one of her best friends. Then Lee happened. Damn it, no. She would not think about him. Because when she thought about Lee, the pain came soon after. And it probably didn't help that she hasn't cut since Neji basically asked her out. There wasn't a reason too. She was too numb to feel anything. It was as though Neji neutralized the constant pain she felt inside.

Sakura was…Sakura was confused. "Yeah, let's start already, we've wasted enough time warming up," very, very confused. And angry. And hurt. But most of all, she was confused. Despite the party over the weekend, the biggest highlight was that weird afternoon she had with Neji Hyuuga. All her other troubles just kind of melted away as they talked out their plan of action for their project, it was like she was able to get away from everything. Listening to his calm yet confident voice drone on about phages and securing laboratory time was soothing compared to Naruto's earsplitting volume. She cast a side-long glance towards Hinata, only to feel her ire rise even more. Damn that girl. Sure, it was awkward being around Neji this weekend. But being around Hinata was suffocating. She hated her. No matter what Sakura did, Hinata was always the first thing on Naruto's mind. It wasn't fair. And today only proved it!

Sasuke and Naruto had apparently made up sometime after lunch, as they walked towards her locker together and talking in quiet tones. When she asked what was up, Naruto just looked at her and she could see the pain in his eyes. Finally Sasuke told her what happened with Neji and Chouji earlier and it all made sense. He was worried, he was worried over his damned ex girlfriend! When was _Sakura_ going to come first!?

"I thought you were ready?" Temari asked moodily, "Come on Sakura, you just missed you cue! Pay attention."

The pink-haired girl nodded distractedly, "Let's start from the top again."

Ino started out with a long, melancholy sound from the violin. Then Tenten picked up a few seconds later to softly start in with key sounds on the piano. Hinata started in on the lyrics with, "Sparkling angel, I believed. You were my savior in my time of need. Blinded by faith, I couldn't hear. All the whispers, the warning so clear. I see the angels, I'll lead them to your door. There's no escape now, no mercy no more. No remorse because I still remember," here is where Temari and Sakura started in with the drums and guitar, "The smile when you tore me apart."

They went on and re-started a few times. Temari and Sakura were really struggling to match each other's speed. Ino's playing on the violin just came across as sad. Tenten was doing fairly well and even Hinata was gaining more confidence each time they went over it, even though her passion didn't match the intensity of the lyrics. As more time passed it was pretty obvious that Temari and Sakura were getting really frustrated with each other. But the biggest surprise came before they could start yelling at one another.

It was Ino. The one who actually wrote down most of the lyrics for the song they were trying to get right. Yes, right in the middle of the first couple lyrics she started to sob. Each of the girls were shocked at the sound and the room went instantly silent. Another sob, then two more. And in a flash, the beautiful blonde girl bolted out of the room, carelessly dropping her instrument in the process.

The remaining girls eyed each other as though looking for an explanation, even though two of them knew what had happened. Sakura refused to meet Hinata's eyes.

The shy girl spoke up, "I-I I'll be right back." And then she too bolted out of the door.

Sakura scoffed, of course Hinata would go after her and be the savior. Even though Ino was really _her_ friend, "I guess we're done here."

"Guess so, and hey Sakura, why don't you work a little extra on your part, you were really off today," Temari suggested. Sakura merely rolled her eyes and gathered up her things to leave.

With Hinata, she had a good idea where Ino went off to. As she rounded the corner she caught just the sight of Ino's blonde ponytail as she went through another set of doors. Hinata slowed her steps to a walking pace, building up her own strength to try and be there for Ino. She wasn't sure why, she just knew that Ino needed someone who would listen. Ino's sobs were just so eerily heart-breaking.

As she neared the heavy doors she could hear Ino crying as quietly as possible. It was late and most of the students and faculty were already gone, so she doubted anyone else would be here. With a firm push, she opened the doors and stepped foot into the faded blue walls of the girls changing room for gym. Ino was curled up in the corner of the room, luckily no one else was there. She took a few cautious steps towards the blonde.

"Just go away Hinata," Ino whispered hotly through her tears.

Hinata simply sighed and seated herself close the other girl, "It's okay to cry Ino."

The girl cried harder into her own arms, pulling into herself as tightly as possible. Hinata sat there beside her for a few minutes, saying nothing, just listening to Ino's broken cries. With everything that Naruto and Sakura put her through, cheating on her and breaking her heart, at least she could honestly say she was never physically abused.

It took a while, several minutes in fact, but eventually the usually bright and happy Ino calmed down and chanced a glance up towards the girl next to her, "H-Hinata, promise me you won't say anything. Please."

The Hyuuga girl smiled softly, "I p-promise."

Ino nodded in self-reassurance, "I'm sorry I just," she cleared her groggy throat, "I don't know what came over me."

"Ino you've," she hesitated just the slightest, "you've b-been through a lot today."

The blonde stilled her movement for a bit, "Hinata um," what could she say to her? It wasn't a big secret anymore. Not after he hit her that day after practice, everyone in school knew about it. And it will be even worse after today when he threw her into the lockers. What could she say? Kami, she could already see everyone's sympathizing looks.

"I-it's n-not my place," Hinata told her in a quiet voice, "but," she gulped nervously, "I am worried for you."

"You don't have to worry, everything will be okay, it always is."

Denial. They sat there quiet for a little bit as the denial of her statement remained out in the open. Both lost in their own thoughts. Ino herself wasn't sure what else she could do to keep up with it all. Everything was breaking down around her, and it was all her fault. Hinata wondered if Ino was just telling herself it was going to be okay. They were friends; yes, but not close. They barely talked to each other outside of class or these music practices. Hinata didn't know what she should do.

"Really Hinata, he doesn't mean it." There was a part of her that believed that to be true too. There was also a small part inside her that wanted to talk to Hinata, to tell her everything, all her problems.

Hinata's eyes snapped towards Ino's in disbelief, "He m-may not mean it, but that d-doesn't m-make it right."

Ino allowed another moment of silence to stretch between them before replying back quietly, almost in a whispered tone, "It's my fault."

Shaking her head once in denial, Hinata turned herself towards her friend and placed a hand to her shoulder, "No, it's not."

"But it is," light blue eyes filled with pain before continuing on, "he wouldn't," she shuddered, "he wouldn't be like this if it weren't for me."

"Ino," she whispered, "why do you believe that?"

"Because," she sobbed again, not being able to stop it in time, "I introduced him to it all Hinata, I did. Don't you see? I made him popular just by being with him. He used to never drink, or pop pills, or…or sleep around. I did this to him."

She was shocked, but in the end Hinata could see where Ino could think like that. So she took a moment to think on how to respond before settling for the honest truth of it all, "You didn't force h-him into anything. He made his own decisions."

Immediately Ino shook her head no, "You don't understand, sure you dated Naruto for a while, but you still weren't that popular. You don't know what it's like to party like we do. I love him Hinata, we deserve each other."

It was the truth and it stung a little, but she came back with, "You're right about that," she paused, "but you're wrong about one-one thing. You deserve better and so does he. I d-don't mean that in a bad way. Just th-that you two maybe aren't good for each other."

Ino laughed once bitterly, "You think?" She then looked around, as if to make sure they were truly alone before admitting in a quiet voice, "I tried to end it you know, several times in fact. The first time it happened was the worst. He apologized and I could tell he meant it, he doesn't really mean to hurt me. Then he did it again, and then again. And again and again. And not just that, but he's cheated on me I don't even know how many times. But what do I do Hinata? I love him so much it hurts. I hate it that I am the one who changed him. So if you think about it, I've hurt him just as much as he's hurt me." Ino paused to catch her breath, she didn't really mean to say all of these things, but it felt so good to talk to someone. "I know we're not good for each other. I really do. But I love him, it's as simple as that. I can't escape how I feel about him and he knows it."

Poor Ino, she's been through so much, and still hangs on for the one she loves. She's had to twist the truth to make it into something she could fathom was possible and fix. "Ino, I'm sorry but," Hinata wasn't sure how the blonde was going to react but it needed to be said here, "but it's going to get wor-worse. If this has been going on for as long as you say then it already has gotten worse. What if he hits you one too many times, or what if he takes one too many pills?"

"I know," she cried out, her eyes now swollen with tears, "I know but I can't stop it. I tried to break up with him just last week but here I am. Hurt again, crying again. And I know he's sorry. But I know he'll just do it again. Kami and when he gets so angry and looks at me…sometimes I wonder if this is it, you know? Is this when it ends?"

Hinata shook her head and pulled her into her arms, "You're strong Ino, one of the strongest people I know. But you both need to be away from-from each other, for both of your sakes." Ino continued to cry her tears out. Hinata was right, she knew that. She listened to Hinata add, "He needs you too, Ino. Because you do love each other so much, you might be the only one that can help him."

Before she realized it, Ino was nodding at what needed to be done. One more time, she will try to break it off one more time. Hinata was probably right about that too, she was the only one that could save Chouji from what he's become. She helped to mold and create him, she will have to be the one to save him. She never really thought of it like that before. "Hinata um…"

"…I promised you, don't worry. But I'll be here for you if you need help."

"Hinata," she smiled sadly, "thank you."

~*R*~

"How was the party loser?"

Naruto glared at his best friend, "Awesome. Why don't you ever go those things anyway?"

Sasuke just shrugged, "What's the point?"

"Uh," Naruto started, "the point is to get drunk with your friends and sneak off with your girlfriend."

"Ew, I really don't want to hear about your latest sexcapade with Sakura."

"Right, guess I should thank you for always turning her down. She finally realized I was the better choice all along."

The Uchiha scoffed, "I'm not even going to justify that with an intelligent response."

"Don't hate," the blonde teased. They were playing video games in Naruto's room, the age old way of patching things up with each other. You know, the typical guy way, by blowing each up on-screen. When Sasuke brutally took him out with a head-shot Naruto glanced his way, "Hey look, I'm sorry about the other day."

"You mean when you sucker-punched me?" Was it just him, or did Naruto's room smell like dirty socks and leftover ramen? He glanced around…it looked like it smelled. Gross. From now on he will insist on game night at his place. He didn't give two shits what Itachi had to say about it.

"Yeah, hee hee," he stalled, "Sasuke uh, do you like Hinata or something?"

He was quiet for a few minutes, enjoying blowing the loud boy to smithereens. Instead of answering him, he finally asked a question of his own, "What did you want with her?"

Naruto let out a tired sigh and ran his hands through his blonde locks, "Nothing. Everything. I still want to be her friend."

Sasuke stared at him, "It was wrong what you did to her."

Accepting that, Naruto nodded. After all he could still feel every one of Neji's punches, "I know, and she deserved better. I see her and…I want to see her smile again so bad. I've apologized, but I know she doesn't think I mean it, "he sighed again, "I love Sakura."

He snorted at his friend, "Sounds like you're trying to convince yourself of that."

"No, I do. I love her. That I'm sure of. I mean come on bastard, a lifetime of pining for her doesn't just fade away overnight."

"And Hinata? What about her?"

"…I don't know."

"Might want to get it figured out loser, you've hurt her enough as it is. You talking to her and being all happy is like throwing it all back in her face."

"You know, you never did answer my question, why do you care when it comes to Hinata?"

Sasuke just turned his thoughts inwards. He wasn't into Hinata like that, but they had been friends. He had once considered her more of a friend; other than Naruto of course, than anyone else in school. She was just genuine; she wasn't out for popularity or anything like that. Plus she never did follow him around like an annoying puppy with a stupid crush. Heh, once upon a time it was Naruto who showed him the error of his ways. Guess now it was Sasuke's turn to show Naruto that he needed to get his shit together before he lost both of them.


	12. Chapter 12

It was quiet.

In all her nervousness, the evening hadn't turned out nearly as bad as she was thinking. When she told Neji that she was getting a ride home from someone else, he actually sighed in relief! He told her that he forget to mention that he had booked himself up and wouldn't be able to take her home anyway. So, she supposed it was a good thing that Sasuke volunteered his brother to escort her home.

The ride to the Uchiha's home was quiet, but it wasn't as noticeable as it is now. Her and Sasuke made quick work of choosing an idea for their joint play-write assignment. They even talked out how they wanted it to go and wrote some of their ideas down. It would be a short, maybe fifteen minutes long at best, but it had that whole comedic feel to it.

While her and Sasuke were busy working on their homework together, Itachi prepared dinner. He was a surprisingly good cook. The meal was filling and she listened in as Sasuke droned on about his day at school with annoying fan girls. In Hinata's mind, she could only see running for her life if those fan girls ever knew she had dinner with _both_ Uchiha brothers. Once dinner was done Sasuke said he would do dishes while Itachi took her home. Which brings her to the current moment in time; sitting beside a man who's becoming a frequent companion of hers. His car was really nice, everything was all black. He kept the leather seats treated as they were clean and shone beautifully. The music he listened to was a mix of classical and rock, she liked it a lot. But really overall…

It was quiet.

He pulled up into the long driveway of her family's estate and parked just outside the main entrance. Hinata took a moment to get her belongings; a book bag and purse, before casting her gaze towards him. He was just like his car; black hair, black eyes, black clothing, but clean and tidy too. He was…he was _really_ good-looking.

She felt her heart speed up, the feeling surprised her. She hadn't felt anything like that since…

"Th-thank you, um, Itachi, for driving me home," she swallowed to get some of the nervousness out of her throat.

Itachi sent a small smirk her way, enjoying the sudden rise of pink on her cheeks, "It was no trouble."

Hinata nodded her head once and opened the car door, closing it softly behind her. Midway up the stone stairs she pause and turned when she heard another door opening. Only to reveal Itachi's stunningly carved face appear.

"Just making sure you get inside," he told her in that deep, calm, confident voice of his.

Again she nodded, a small smile of her face as she made her way to the grand door of her home. With blush in hand, she unlocked it and glanced back at him and held his gaze for a few key seconds. Once she locked her door behind her she leaned against it and slid down to the floor. Her face was warm and her heart was rapidly beating.

There was no mistake, Itachi Uchiha had very intense eyes.

~*R*~

Everyone was looking at them. Some of them had their familiar sneers on their faces while others just looked plainly shocked. Tenten looked down toward the hand holding her own, and her eyes then traveled up the pale arm of her long-time friend. Or was he her boyfriend now? She wasn't sure, a line had been crossed, and she just hoped they would be alright in the end. His friendship meant the world to her. Kami help her if she ever did anything to lose it.

He leaned down, "It's pretty quiet for a Wednesday morning, hm?"

"I better get to class now," she wanted to smile, but didn't have it in her to do so, "I had fun last night."

"Me too," he responded and let go of her hand, "Again, I apologize for being so late. It took longer to do the experiments than I originally anticipated."

"Oh, that's okay."

An awkward tension came between them. Yes, last night had been enjoyable. Neji arrived to the pre-planned café a good forty five minutes late with the explanation that he got caught up in the lab for a science project. He was easily forgiven of course, and he turned the evening around and managed to actually get her to give a half-hearted smile at one point. It felt great to just get out of the house for once, to not hide away in her room or in her music.

He cleared his throat, "Friday night then, after our game?"

That's right, he's a popular guy. He's on the football team. He didn't expect her to actually go to those things did he? "Uh sure, we'll talk later, I gotta go."

It had been a great first date, it really had been. But still…why didn't he kiss her goodbye?

~*R*~

Ino finally decided that today was the day. There was so much to think about and so took some time to sort through it all. She just had to know she was making the right decision. Hinata was right, there was only one way to save Chouji, and that was to end things with him. But damn it, she didn't want that. It tore her apart inside because she knew, she remembered the guy he used to be. Friendly, charming, sweet, he would do anything for her. He used to be so different from all the other guys. That core piece that was somewhere still buried inside him is what she fell in love with. And for so long, she had been the light in his eyes.

Not anymore. Now it was a contest between how drunk he could get, how many girls he could bang, or high he get off pills and whatever else he's on lately. Ino was now on the backburner. But always there, in case he needed a lay. It wasn't love, not anymore, her and Chouji weren't loving each other any longer. She couldn't do it anymore, she wasn't strong enough. She tried so hard to make it work, to be patient and wait for him to go back to being the Chouji she fell in love with. But he wouldn't change. Every time he said he'd be different, each time he told her he'd never hit her again, they were nothing but lies.

She had been avoiding him for a while now, avoiding what she knew had to be done. Only catching glimpses of him since he threw her into the lockers and Hinata; of all people, took her away. But now here they were, face to face. If there was a divine being out there, Ino was asking for them to give her the strength to do this. The strength to face him and end this.

"There you are," he wrapped his arms around her waist and put her under his chin.

He held her so tight, it was like he was apologizing through touch alone, "Hey." But it was far too little too late; way too late to be honest. It needed to happen.

"Where have you been, babe?" he asked once he released her and took a step back.

Ino gulped and looked cautiously to her side. Best get this done and over with quickly, "Look Chouji, I've been doing a lot of thinking," she paused as a fierce frown overtook her face, "it's not working out."

He chuckled once and tried to put a hand on her shoulder, but stilled when she moved away, "What are you talking about Ino, we're fine."

"No," she shook her head, her lustrous blonde mane of hair waving behind her, "it's over Chouji, I don't want to see you anymore. I'll bring your stuff tomorrow just," she looked him in the eye, "just don't talk to me anymore."

"What the fuck!?" he shouted at her, once again, making everyone look at her. "You're breaking up with me!?"

She took in a long breath, "Yes, I'm moving on."

"With who!?" he asked in an angry voice.

"Look, I have to get ready for my next class. Um, bye." She didn't dare turn around to see his face turn red in rage. No, she didn't dare. Because turning back only meant she would give in to him yet again. It was something neither one of them could afford. She would just have to keep avoiding him until he cooled down.

~*R*~

"So how long has this been going on again?" Temari asked with a grin.

Tenten had the decency to blush a little, "Just recently."

"You sly little fox, you!" the teal-eyed blonde grinned, "I approve. Not that you care what I think. And you need a boyfriend to get over that crackpot Lee. Now I have to put up with him all the time," she groaned.

"Um, right," since when were her and Temari friendly with each other?

"I didn't say anything in front of Hinata and the others, I wasn't sure if you guys told her yet."

"Not that I know of."

"Hm, you should come with me then," Temari declared.

"Where?"

"To watch the end of football practice," Temari quickly grabbed Tenten's wrist as she started to walk away, and made the decision to not say anything about the other girl's severe wince in doing so, maybe she just pulled at her too strongly, "Sorry about that, but I'm serious. You're dating one of the most popular guys in school, the least you could do is show him some support. Come on, even Hinata will be there, you can sit with her if you want."

_But Lee will be there_, Tenten panicked, "I better just get home, I'll see you tomorrow for class."

Temari just sighed and watched her go, she was trying damn it. She didn't make friends easily. And when Tenten started talking it sometimes felt like they could actually be good friends. Besides, she needed someone on her side to keep her sane while dealing with the underclass girls in their music project. Oh well, whatever. She made her way to the field and took a seat a little behind the cheerleaders and delved into a new book.

While Sakura had rushed from music practice to the locker room to get ready for cheerleading practice, only to find that Ino must have forgotten and went home. So she went through the routines they were going to use for the next game.

"Where's Ino, I thought she was with you in our dumb music project?" asked Karin, a senior gossip.

"I already told you I don't know, call her if you're really that worried," she replied back rather saucily. Karin just rolled her eyes at the pinkette and they continued with practice.

Deep down though, Sakura was worried. Ino _never_ missed practice, she lived for this sort of thing. To be honest the girl thrived with the attention of being Captain. And the big gossip of the day was that Ino broke it off with her star quarterback boyfriend earlier in the day. That must be why she skipped out on practice today, to avoid seeing Chouji. It had been coming though, everyone knew about his philandering ways.

Once upon a time Sakura would have been the one Ino came to when it came to relationship problems. Yep, best friends in grade school, only to start hating each other over some cute boy; aka Sasuke. That's where Hinata came in. While always friends in their younger years, the two grew really close while she was feuding with Ino over Sasuke.

In reality she kind of missed Hinata. But then she would remember the way Naruto always got to stiff whenever his ex was mentioned; or how his mood plummeted if she was ever around. It was like…he wasn't over her or something. And how could that be when he left Hinata to be with her? After everything her and Naruto shared together, he was still hung up on Hinata, and she hated her for it.

First she lost a friend over Sasuke, and now another one over Naruto.

Maybe it was her after all.

~*R*~

Out on the field things were only going from bad to worse for Chouji. He had every intention of cornering Ino after practice to see what was really going on, but she freaking bailed.

Plus, his team mates were doing a fantastic job of letting him know they were pissed at him. Whatever, it was his personal business that had nothing to do with them…OOF!

He lay there in a daze as a grinning Sasuke and Naruto knuckle-punched each other and jogged away. Coach Hatake sighed and threw his clipboard to the ground, "I don't know what to think. What the hell happened to our defense today? Hyuuga, Sabaku, how did you just let those guys get pass you to sack the qb? You two are the best in the region this year. Come on, let's run the play again."

This time it was Kiba who sacked him, hard. The rest of the team were nodding their approval as no one helped him up. It kept happening time and time again and the pain was starting to get to the abandoned quarterback.

"Okay, obviously something is going on here," Kakashi observed, "Whatever the hell your problem is guys, fix it before Friday. We're cutting practice early today."

As players and coaches started moving towards the locker rooms, a few remained behind. Naruto, Sasuke, Neji, Kankuro, Kiba, and a few others all circled around Chouji as he remained on his back after that one last tackle by Sasuke. He knew what was coming and in the deepest pit of his mind he knew he deserved the beating he was about to receive.

Kankuro took a knee to look the fallen quarterback in the eye. "I warned you Akimichi, I fucking warned you. You're damn lucky I wasn't there to see you push Ino like that. You think this is bad? Don't think for one second I'll have your back for the rest of the season," he kicked him in the side of the ribs, "I don't give a shit if it does cost us the playoffs. You are fucking pathetic and if I see you around her again, I'll destroy you."

"Same goes for Hinata," Naruto spoke up with Neji and Sasuke glaring down at him, "I heard all about it and Chouji man, what is up with you? You can't hit girls!"

"I didn't hit her!" he seethed out with pain-clenched teeth, "Besides, we broke up."

This time it was Kiba coming down with a punch to his stomach before yelling in outrage, "Just because you broke up doesn't excuse you for what you did! You slapped her dude! What kind of man does that, huh? What, do you get off on beating girls!?"

"Alright," Neji spoke in a calm voice, "let's settle this." Things were starting to escalate to quickly. It was one thing to knock some sense into their qb, but a whole to completely gang up on him like this. "As long as you stay away from Ino and Hinata we'll leave you alone. We won't protect you in games, but we won't purposefully attack you either."

The guys grunted and started to leave, each of them putting in their own two cents on the matter. Fuck! How did shit get so messed up!? Chouji lay there still trying to get his bearings. Everyone turned their backs on him. It wasn't fair, how was any of this his fault!?

His stomach and chest felt like they were on fire. Damn that Kankuro can kick, and screw Kiba too, what any of them have to do with his personal life? Nothing, that's what. What a damn good day, huh? His girlfriend breaks up with him basically in front of the whole fucking school and then his team leaves him open to get sacked all practice long. What did he do to deserve this?

And what is up with everyone being so protective over Ino all of a sudden? And Hinata, someone he hardly ever talks to, she is another person that is turning people against him. What the fuck? Seriously, he will tear her apart if he sees her anytime soon. Who the hell was she to turn his team against him?

The real problem was Ino. Yes, this was all her fault! That stupid bitch! Just wait until he gets his hand around her fucking neck! That stupid slut was going to pay! She broke his heart so he'll break her face. He growled as he finally stood up, completely bypassed the locker room to avoid another confrontation. Once he got to his car he took out the rest of the pills from his stash and swallowed them all down.

He only had one destination in mind.

And when her house came into view all he could see was red. Nothing but pure rage filled his frame, fuelled even greater with his current high. She did this, and she was going to pay for everything. For breaking his heart, for ruining his reputation, he would see her burn in hell for all she's done. He pounded on her door, it was a good thing her parents were hardly ever home.

Slowly she opened her front door, peeking outside to see him. She saw him and shivered, "Chouji?"


	13. Chapter 13

Sometimes you feel things and just can't explain it. It comes completely out of the blue and without warning. A certain urgency makes itself known and doesn't leave until you start to worry. Call it fate, destiny, or whatever you want, but it does happen. It happens for a reason, and some say it's just natural instinct. It might start out as a tingling sensation in your knees, or a troubling thought that warns of a bad omen. However it starts, the feeling of anticipation, of waiting for something to go wrong, it eats away at the psyche

"Something is wrong," Hinata frowned to herself.

Neji glanced over to her, "What is it Hinata?"

They were driving home after the eventful practice and something was nagging at Hinata's mind, "I don't know, but something isn't right."

Neji concentrated on the road, they were almost home, "Did you forget something at school?"

She shook her head no, "I just feel like," she hesitated, "something bad is going-going to happen." Hinata saw that Neji was frowning now too, "Neji, why did you guys all circle around like that at the end of practice today?"

He sighed and sent a look towards her, "We were just warning Chouji to stay away from Ino and you, really any girl though, he shouldn't have hit her. But he said they broke up so things should go back to normal."

Hinata allowed Neji's words to float around in her head, maybe everything would be okay then. Still though, something just wasn't right. She could fee it in her bones, something bad was going to happen. She thought it over again and again in her mind. So Ino finally broke it off with Chouji, but given that Chouji's past with violence towards her, it wouldn't be a far stretch to think he might want some retribution.

Suddenly she felt chills run down her spine. What if…, "Ino. Neji, we have to go."

"Go where, what are you talking about? Are you okay?"

She shook away his questions, "It's Ino; Neji she's in trouble I just know it. Please, do you know where she lives?"

"Woah, calm down Hinata," he pulled into their stone driveway, "we just got home you can't be serious."

Her head nodded yes rapidly, "Please, I don't have her number."

Again, Neji sighed, "I know where she lives," at her questioning gaze he explained, "Ino's thrown a couple parties over the years, I've been there once or twice after a game."

"Please hurry, I just have this bad feeling."

Admitting defeat, Neji rolled the car in reverse and headed towards the part of town Ino lived in. It wasn't long before he turned onto her street. Pulling up to her house, Neji took notice of Chouji's beat up car in front. Hinata only saw the front door wide open for anyone to come in. The two cousins looked at each other before Neji got out of the vehicle.

"Stay here Hinata," he demanded in a firm voice.

She didn't nod and he didn't care if she did or not, as long as she listened. Not to be cruel, but in his eyes, her safety was most important. After preparing himself for what he might be walking in on, he made his way to the entrance of the Yamanaka's door. And he wasn't surprised at what he saw. It disgusted him, but he wasn't shocked by any means.

Chouji was choking her, choking like he was trying to kill her.

But what did surprise him was that Sakura was there too, she was screaming and pulling on Chouji's arms to get his grip off Ino's neck. When he back-handed Sakura and flung her to the ground as though she were nothing is when Neji rushed forward.

In two quick strikes in succession of each other, he had Chouji's arms off of Ino and focused on him instead. Chouji was gurgling in unrecognizable phrases, screaming as though he were insane.

Ino fell to the floor where Chouji had her pinned, grabbing at her sore throat and gasping for air. Sakura was groaning in pain and pressed a hand to her temple as Choiji and Neji eyed each other.

A light gasp was heard at the doorway and Neji cursed to himself. Without looking away from Chouji who was poised to attack again, he called out, "Damn it Hinata, I told you to stay away!"

"Hinata," Ino's sore voice cried out.

As Hinata moved towards Ino Chouji lost it and started his screaming again, high off of drugs and not feeling any pain. It was the only reason why he went after Neji again. Neji was too strong of a fighter for him to really have a chance at actually harming him, but he would still try in his crazed rage. But when he started to go after Hinata, that was when Neji finally had enough.

Neji didn't even notice that he broke his hand with how hard he punched Chouji in the jaw. He also didn't realize that he'd broken said jaw in the process and knocked him out. In one swift movement after the destructive hit, he had Chouji pinned to the carpeted floor of Ino's living room, his arms behind his back and with Neji's knee pushing down against his spine.

It was over.

Now they all just had to worry about the consequences of what happened this day.

~*R*~

They were at the hospital. The mood was as somber as it was cold in the facility. The scent of many deaths mingled with that of both old and fresh spilled blood in the air, all polished off with the crisp smell of cleaning products. It was the smell of every hospital. No matter how clean it was, nothing could ever quite erase the smell of death.

Chouji was getting ready to go into immediate surgery to get his jaw re-attached. No one held an ounce of sympathy for him. Ino was admitted into a private room and currently Sakura was with her trying to get her to talk. The doctors told her she would have bruising on her neck for a while and it would be best to not strain her throat to talk unless necessary.

Talking to the police was very necessary. But it wasn't happening for a while at least.

Neji and Hinata had just returned from speaking with Konoha's law enforcement department regarding Neji's attack on Chouji. It was cleared up right away though, that if Neji hadn't done what he did, things may have been much, much worse. So the two cousins were sitting in the waiting room, Hinata was watching the television while not really paying attention while Neji told his uncle what happened and that they would be home before curfew.

When he got off the phone he leaned back in his chair and sighed deeply, causing his younger cousin to look up at him with her wide, innocent eyes.

"I'm sorry I got you involved in this Neji, for-forgive me."

He looked at her and then shook his head once in denial, "You did a good thing today Hinata."

"I know but…"

"…It worked out for the best, it could have been worse. Have you thought about what would have happened if I didn't listen to you?"

She swallowed and shook her head no and he sent her a soft smirk. Neji thought about it. He almost didn't listen to her, and if he hadn't been there…then Ino _and_ Sakura probably would have been hurt really bad. After a few quiet minutes spent in silence between the two cousins both lost in their own thoughts, Sakura and her pale pink locks was seen walking towards them.

Standing in front of them she closed her eyes and spoke softly, a little brokenly, "She asked for you Hinata." It hurt to admit, but it was the truth. Ino wasn't talking to her, plain and simple. She only got two words out of her old rival…don't understand. But Hinata did? Maybe, maybe the shy girl knew something she didn't. Besides, she really owed both the Hyuuga's now.

Soundlessly Hinata shook her head in acceptance and quietly rose from her chair. Sakura opened her eyes in time to watch the back of her shiny hair disappear around the corner. Everything just seemed so petty now. All her 'hatred' for Hinata diminished to almost nothing. She did it to herself, Sakura destroyed her friendships herself, it was nothing Ino or Hinata ever did, it was all her. And now, her two closest 'once upon a time' friends were closer to each other than with her separately. It hurt to think about.

"Have a seat," Neji's ever-confident voice broke her out of her internal hell.

"Thanks," she whispered and took Hinata's seat next to him. She let out a small sigh and put her hands on her knees. "For everything, I mean."

He glanced at her, his light grayish white eyes catching her jade ones and merely nodded.

Sakura swallowed suddenly, an odd nervousness filling her throat, "She wouldn't talk to me," she blurted out. Not knowing why she was telling Neji Hyuuga this of all people, but now she couldn't hold it back, "We've been friends forever and she couldn't tell me what was really going on with Chouji all this time."

Neji better angled himself towards her in his seat and took a moment to try and read the expressions floating around in her green eyes before asking, "Sakura, what were you doing there? What happened?"

Her eyes widened and she looked down towards her lap, "She didn't show up for practice today, something she never misses. She was there for our music session but then skipped cheerleading. I knew something had to be wrong. I heard all the gossip about how she broke up with Chouji and figured she was just avoiding him." He nodded at her to continue, "I tried calling her but she wouldn't answer, and I don't know, it just felt off. So I stopped by to check up on her and at least tell her how practice went. But then," she gulped as the memories replayed in front of her, "her front door was open and then I knew something was wrong. I didn't notice Chouji's car at first, but when I went inside he was," she started breathing heavily, "he was trying to r-rape her."

"Hn," he let out an extended breath of his own, "and you stopped him?"

Tears started to gather in her eyes as she nodded, "I yelled at him and then he kicked her in the thigh. He started to turn around, to come after me I guess, but she got up and slapped him clear across the face."

Neji closed his own eyes and shook his head at the news, "What a mess."

"That's when he turned on her," she told him, a tear rolling down her cheek, "Ino was crying and backed up into that wall and then he grabbed her around the neck. I couldn't believe it at first, but her face was turning really red and then I knew it, he was going to kill her."

He nodded at this point, able to finish out the tale from his own perspective, "You tried getting him away from her but he pushed you down, I saw that when I first got there."

Sakura nodded, "Neji, why _were_ you and Hinata there?"

He let out yet another deep sigh, "That is all Hinata's doing. She all but begged me to take her to Ino's place, saying she had a feeling something bad was going to happen."

"I wasn't strong enough," she sobbed out unwillingly and looked at him with glass eyes, "Neji if you hadn't shown up…"

It started out a little awkwardly, but he slowly placed his arm around her shoulders. She took his initiative and let loose the tears she's been hiding inside and leaned into his touch. She cried about almost losing Ino, she cried about her past mistakes, she cried about hurting the people closest to her. And he let her. For some strange and twisted reason, he let her.

~*R*~

By the time Hinata had reached Ino's assigned room, she was sleeping uncomfortably with the bright lights still shining down on her frail looking frame. Poor Ino. Hinata moved to turn off the lights so that her friend could get some much needed rest, and then took the only open chair next to her bed. What was she doing here? How did all of this happen?

It had become a whirlwind school year so far, what ever happened to the days of her moping around for Naruto. Now when she thought about him, he was just a distant memory of a boy she once loved. Everything was different now. Just by looking down at Ino's slight snoring was proof enough. Ino wasn't at all like she remembered, and how long exactly has this all been going on without anyone knowing about it? Hinata cared, but she always had, hadn't she? Didn't she always care about other people over herself?

Was it her fault? In Ino's weakest moment, in her time of need, she suggested for her to break it off with Chouji. But she didn't think, didn't realize what might happen until it was too late. It was her fault, wasn't it?

Oh my Kami, she did this. She did this to Ino.

A sob rose up from her heart, through her throat and out into the cold, open air of the room. Silent tears streamed down her face, as she cried out how sorry she felt for being so very wrong. She told her she should break up with him.

"Hin-Hinata," a drowsy Ino whispered with her scratchy voice, "you okay?"

Two more sobs came out as she laughed bitterly to herself, "You ask if I'm-I'm okay when you're the one in the hospital."

The blonde sat up a little in the bed to get more comfortable, "I'm sorry," she lightly cleared her voice, "you had to see that."

Hinata shook her head, "Don't strain your voice Ino, and please don't apologize. I'm the o-one that's sorry."

"What?" Ino frowned, "No…"

"Ssh, please don't speak," Hinata pleaded with teary eyes, "I'm glad you are okay, f-fore the most part."

Ino nodded and Hinata smiled at her. A smile that was full of regret and sorrow, but also sincere all the same. It remained quiet for a few minutes until Ino couldn't stand but to ask, "Ch-Chouji?"

Hinata nodded her understanding, "He's in surgery, um uh, Neji broke his jaw. I think he'll be okay, though."

Ino sighed and relaxed a little more into the firm hospital bed, "Sing for me?"

Her eyes widened drastically just as a blush stole over her face, "Sing?" she gulped, "Uh, wh-what song?"

When Ino just shrugged and closed her eyes, Hinata mentally settled for a song written by Itachi. She had been working on lyrics for the music he gave to her and felt like trying it out.

"I can see, when you stay low nothing happens. Does it feel right? Late at night, things I thought I put behind me, haunt my mind. I just know there's no escape now, once it sets its eyes on you. But I won't run, have to stare it in the eye. Stand my ground, I won't give in. No more denying, I've got to face it. Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside. If I don't make it, someone else will. Stand my ground."

Ino smiled at her and nodded, keeping her eyes closed, "Pretty. Nother?"

The dark-haired girl smiled at the praise and searched her mind for the song she was working on with Tenten, "Couldn't save you from the start, love you so it hurts my soul. Can you forgive me for trying again, your silence makes me hold my breath. And time as passed you by. Oh, for so long I've tried to shield you from the world. Oh, you couldn't face the freedom on your own. Here I am, left in silence. You gave up the fight, you left me behind. All that's done is forgiven. You'll always be mine, I know deep inside. All that's done is forgiven."

And once Hinata softly sang out the last note of the melody, she noticed that Ino had slipped into slumber.

She was fine with that, let the poor girl sleep away any troubles she may be in. If all Hinata had to do was sing to help her relax, then she would gladly do it. Ino was strong. Far stronger than she could ever hope to imagine being. And for that, she admired her. Hinata knew she would have just completely shattered mentally if something like this were to happen to her.

Beep.

Hinata glanced at her phone to see that she had missed a couple texts. She frowned when she recognized the number. She frowned because it was Naruto.

'I miss you'. 'Call me.' 'I want 2 talk.'

**A/N:** I have really dug deep and put a lot into this story, and a lot of time. Seriously, I think I started thinking about this storyline back in like 2009 or something crazy like that. Which brings me to my next statement...everyone I'm sorry, but I'm going on a small hiatus. No worries, I'll be back to finish this up at some point, I just have some things that have a higher priority. I really hope you enjoy it and know that I read and appreciate every ounce of feedback that comes my way :)

Ok, I have an assignment for all of you while I'm away: Please, I'm begging, I need your help! I'm this far into the damn story and still do not know what name to use for the girl's band. I've had a few good suggestions, and am looking for more. Eventually I'll put up a poll, I just need help! ~Lady Crack


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